Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps she has taken to support grassroots Rugby in Gloucester constituency.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to and can benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities, including rugby.

We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.

Sport England provides long term investment of £16.9 million to the Rugby Football Union and £15.7 million to the Rugby Football League between 2022 and 2029, the National Governing Bodies for rugby to support grassroots participation. It also supports grassroots clubs and projects around the country, which has included support for rugby facilities at Spartans RFC in Gloucester in 2024/25.

Since summer 2024, the Government has also provided £6.7 million into the Women’s Rugby World Cup Legacy Programme Impact 25, which has benefited 850 clubs across the country . These clubs have received investment which goes towards supporting girls of all ages to get involved in rugby. This includes clubs in the Gloucester constituency such as Drybrook RFC who received £10,000 towards improving facilities at the club.