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 findings of the November 2021 survey of UK swim schools undertaken by the Swimming Teachers’ Association; and what steps she plans to take to increase (a) national swimming teacher provision and (b) reduce waiting lists for swimming lessons at swim schools.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to indoor and outdoor pools. Swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy as well as being a crucial life skill in terms of water safety.

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.

Sport England continues to invest in access to swimming, awarding £9,112,544 in grassroots swimming and diving since 2019, including £6,230,502 directly to Swim England. This supports Swim England’s work to develop the swimming workforce, including the Institute of Swimming which delivers training for swimming teachers.

Swim England are running a Recruitment Academy to help tackle the issue of teacher shortages across the sector, offering an end-to-end service which seeks, recruits and trains swimming teachers. There are currently 48 academies in progress with over 200 learners going through the programme.