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 encourage more women and girls to participate in non-professional sport in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area.

We are dedicated to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport.

Sport England, our Arm’s Length Body, directly supports Active Dorset to help get people active in the area. To date, activities have reached over 1500 participants, 58% of whom are girls.

There are also some fantastic initiatives that exist to encourage women to take up sport and physical activity, for example Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, which has already inspired millions of women and girls to get active.

We, as Government, are committed to supporting girls and boys across the country to get more access to sport and physical activity, this includes a review of the curriculum to protect time for PE. Sport England has also developed the Studio You PE teaching resource which aims to get young girls engaged in PE lessons by offering a range of non-traditional activities, like boxing, dance, pilates and yoga.