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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to encourage a) women and b) young people to play golf.

The Government is committed to ensuring that as many women and young people as possible have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities, including golf.

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. They provide long term investment of £10.2 million to England Golf between 2022-2029 to support grassroots participation, including for both women and young people.

England Golf run a campaign called Girls Golf Rock, which has enabled 5000 girls aged 7-14 to play golf over the last five years.

I was delighted to attend The Open Championships at Royal Portrush last year where the R&A hosted a number of programmes aimed at getting young people to play golf including free tickets for children under 16, the R&A swingzone with free lessons and their “Road to the Opens” programme.