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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support all-weather sports facilities in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) rural areas.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities, and that high-quality, inclusive facilities help ensure everyone has access to sport.

The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.

We are also supporting more players in getting onto the pitch wherever they live via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, which has invested £123 million UK-wide throughout 2024/25. Projects include funding for artificial grass pitches, floodlights, and maintenance machinery, helping sites to improve availability all year round. Funding from the Programme continues to be invested in England through our delivery partner, the Football Foundation. This funding is structured so that areas that need it most are prioritised, taking both local inactivity rates and deprivation into account.

The Football Foundation plans their investment pipeline based on Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs). These plans have been developed in partnership with local authorities and are in the process of being refreshed to reflect the current landscape. The existing LFFP for Tewkesbury can be found here.

The Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024 committed the Government to continued support for elite and grassroots sport through future investment. Further details will be confirmed in due course.