Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of grassroots sports programmes in strengthening mental health (a) literacy and (b) resilience of men and boys.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Grassroots sports programmes provide important opportunities to bring communities together and to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of participants. Active lifestyles are also associated with 375,000 fewer people being diagnosed with depression.
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and can maximise the benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government has committed to continue funding for grassroots facilities through the £123 million UK-wide Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme throughout 2024/25. The evaluation of this programme, which has already published a first interim report and will publish a further two reports in April 2025 and 2026, will consider the impacts on mental wellbeing and physical health. These future reports will seek to demonstrate a causal link between the programme and positive outcomes for mental wellbeing.
The latest report from Sport England’s Active Lives Adult Survey (November 2022-23) notes that there is a positive association between activity levels and mental wellbeing, and provides data split by gender. Being physically active can improve mood, decrease the chance of depression and anxiety and lead to a better and more balanced lifestyle.
The Active Lives Adult Survey (November 2022-23) survey shows 14.9 million men who are active have higher mental wellbeing scores than those who are inactive. Active Lives Children and Young People Survey (Academic year 2022-23) indicates that boys are more likely than girls to have three or more positive attitudes towards sport and physical activity.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with UNESCO on the proposed application for Dr Edward Jenner's house in Berkeley to receive world heritage statue.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for nominating sites across the United Kingdom to UNESCO for World Heritage status. The Department last updated the Tentative List of prospective World Heritage nominations in 2022/23 and it is not due to be updated until at least 2033.
Following the conclusion of this exercise, guidance was published on GOV.UK, which sets out the process for sites seeking World Heritage status and emphasises that the UK is looking to reduce the amount of World Heritage nominations that we submit to UNESCO.
Recognising the important contribution that Dr Edward Jenner’s house makes to our country’s heritage, Historic England, as the body in England responsible for designating heritage assets, is best placed in the first instance, to advise on and explore the range of potentially suitable heritage designations.