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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase general awareness of relative energy deficiency in sport.

The Government is committed to supporting women and girls in sport at every level by actively removing the barriers that prevent their full participation.

Female athletes disproportionately experience a number of health conditions, including Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), which has common indicators such as stress fractures and changes to the menstrual cycle.

DCMS’ Women’s Football Taskforce and Women’s Sport Taskforce are driving progress on numerous fronts for sportswomen, including working closely with the Female Athlete Health National Governing Body Collective to better understand where academic research is happening on issues such as RED-S. The Women’s Football Taskforce also commissioned Loughborough University to work with leading insurance providers and brokers to offer more appropriate support for female athletes. This work has encouraged insurers to address blind spots in existing cover, including RED-S.