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.

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.