Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of moving responsibility for sports and leisure provision into his Department.

There have been no discussions with Cabinet colleagues on moving the responsibility for sports and leisure provision into the Department of Health and Social Care, nor are there any plans to make an assessment of the potential impact on public health of doing so.

Addressing physical inactivity and getting people moving more is important for improving health outcomes, reducing demand on the National Health Service, and supporting economic growth, and the Government recognises the important role sport and leisure plays within that.

Officials in the Department of Health and Social Care work closely with their counterparts at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and across other Government departments to ensure that sport and leisure is reflected in the Government’s ambition to reduce levels of physical inactivity as part of the Health Mission.