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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she had made of the number of swimming pools with public access in (a) Portsmouth, (b) the South East and (c) England.

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.

There are an estimated 4291 publicly accessible swimming pools in England, with 855 in the South East and 14 in Portsmouth.

Sport England have awarded £25,753,616 to swimming and diving projects since January 2017, which includes £16,149,002 of funding directly to Swim England. The responsibility of providing access to swimming pools lies at Local Authority level, and the government continues to encourage Local Authorities to invest in swimming facilities.