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 adequacy of mental health and wellbeing training requirements for qualified sports coaches.

The Government recognises the importance of welfare and mental wellbeing for people participating in sport at all levels. An inclusive and professional sport and physical activity workforce is key to supporting people to be active. We want people taking part in sport and physical activity to have the best possible experience, which means that the workforce must be recruited, developed and supported in the right way.

Sport England, our arm’s length body for grassroots sport in England, funds a number of projects which aim to address knowledge and skills gaps of coaches in areas such as mental health. In 2019 they launched an e-learning course developed alongside Mind, UK Coaching and 1st4Sport which aims to help coaches and sport and physical activity providers increase their knowledge of mental health including how to support and engage people experiencing mental health problems. In 2020 Sport England also launched a duty of care toolkit with UK Coaching to equip coaches with the knowledge and skills to provide better coaching experiences and better look after themselves.

In recent years UK Sport, DCMS's arm's length body for elite sport, and the English Institute for Sport also have launched a programme of mental health education to promote positive mental health amongst coaches and support staff and encourage them to develop self-care strategies.

We will continue to work with our arm’s length bodies, sports bodies, and sector partners to promote good coaching which benefits both participants and coaches.