Helen Grant

This Government recognises that grassroots sports clubs are at the beating heart of communities up and down the country. High-quality, inclusive facilities help clubs to get more people active and by backing these clubs, the Government will support more people to get onto the pitch wherever they live.

To mark the achievements of our senior men’s and women’s football teams, and inspire the next generation as we look ahead to hosting UEFA EURO 2028 across the UK and Ireland, we have set out plans to strengthen our support for grassroots clubs. This includes continuing delivery of funding through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme this year, and a commitment to work with the sector to develop a funding package that will support these plans.

We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s length body, Sport England – which annually invests over £250 million of National Lottery and government money. Sport England’s newly established Movement Fund offers crowdfunding pledges, grants and resources to improve physical activity opportunities for the people and communities who need it the most.

Sport England’s latest Active Lives survey data shows that men are more likely to be active than women and that boys are more likely to be active than girls.

We are dedicated to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport. We want to protect time for physical education and support grassroots clubs in expanding access whilst also breaking down the barriers that exist and prevent women and girls from being active.

High-quality, inclusive facilities help clubs to get more people active and by backing these clubs, the Government will support more women and girls to get onto the pitch wherever they live.

The Government has set out its support for grassroots facilities, including through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme which provides funding to build and improve grassroots facilities to support a range of sports, and a commitment to support the Football Association’s ambition to double their number of gold-standard (3-star) community clubs by EURO 2028. This will deliver more opportunities for women and girls to get on the pitch.

Beyond funding, the Government’s commitment includes supporting girls and boys across the country to get more access to sport and physical activity, a review of the curriculum to protect time for PE, and legislation to be brought forward to limit the number of kit items schools can require.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill delivers on our manifesto commitment to put water companies under tough special measures by strengthening regulation and begin the work of cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas.

As an immediate step, this Government will strengthen regulation to reverse the tide on the unacceptable destruction of our waterways, ensuring water companies deliver for customers and the environment and attract private-sector investment to upgrade our crumbling infrastructure.

Change will take time. The Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform our water industry and restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health.

The Government knows that patients are finding it harder than ever to access general practices (GP) and is committed to fixing the the crisis in GPs to secure the long-term sustainability of the National Health Service, thereby increasing access to local services including those in the Maidstone and Malling constituency.

Our plan to restore GPs and improve waiting times to see a practitioner will require both investment and reform. We have committed to training thousands more GPs and ending the 8:00am scramble for appointments by introducing a modern booking system. The Government will also introduce Neighbourhood Health Centres, bringing together vital health and care services, and ensuring healthcare is closer to home and that patients receive the care they deserve. In addition, the Government will also bring back the family doctor by incentivising GPs to see the same patient.

Housing targets are an important tool to ensure housing is delivered in the right places – this is critical in tackling the chronic shortage that the country is facing that means owning a home is a distant reality for much of the public.

We cannot local a generation out of homeownership, we must build the homes the next generation needs.

As set out in the manifesto, the Government will restore mandatory housing targets. We will reverse the damaging changes introduced in December 2023 that undermine our growth ambitions and commitment to delivering 1.5 million homes. We will set out more detail in the forthcoming National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) update.

We will take a brownfield first approach, prioritising the development of previously used land wherever possible and fast-tracking approval of urban brownfield sites.

Brownfield alone will never be enough to build the homes we need– which is why we will look to lower quality ‘grey belt’ land where necessary to meet local housing needs.

By enabling democratic engagement with how, not if, homes and infrastructure are built – the major brakes on the planning system will be addressed to support sustainable growth.

We are working at pace on various revisions to the NPPF, with a view to public consultation on a new draft Framework in due course.

Housing targets are an important tool to ensure housing is delivered in the right places – this is critical in tackling the chronic shortage that the country is facing that means owning a home is a distant reality for much of the public.

We cannot local a generation out of homeownership, we must build the homes the next generation needs.

As set out in the manifesto, the Government will restore mandatory housing targets. We will reverse the damaging changes introduced in December 2023 that undermine our growth ambitions and commitment to delivering 1.5 million homes. We will set out more detail in the forthcoming National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) update.

We will take a brownfield first approach, prioritising the development of previously used land wherever possible and fast-tracking approval of urban brownfield sites.

Brownfield alone will never be enough to build the homes we need– which is why we will look to lower quality ‘grey belt’ land where necessary to meet local housing needs.

By enabling democratic engagement with how, not if, homes and infrastructure are built – the major brakes on the planning system will be addressed to support sustainable growth.

We are working at pace on various revisions to the NPPF, with a view to public consultation on a new draft Framework in due course.

As set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, including the provision of supporting infrastructure in a sustainable manner.

Local planning authorities are required to plan for infrastructure delivery as part of plan-making and report on their use of developer contributions in Infrastructure Funding Statements.

The Government will keep the provision of local infrastructure under review, including when considering revisions to national planning policy.