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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the finding of the Swim England report, published September 2021, that 2,000 swimming pools could be lost by the end of the decade.

We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to indoor and outdoor pools and that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the government continues to encourage Local Authorities to invest in swimming facilities.

The Government has provided a range of support for swimming pools during the pandemic. The £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country, with 1,176 separate pools supported across 701 sites. In addition, Sport England have made 139 Covid support awards to the Swimming & Diving community (totalling £1,178,198).

Beyond Covid, Sport England have awarded £24,575,700 to swimming and diving projects since January 2017, which includes £16,119,002 of funding directly to Swim England.