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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) tennis and (b) padel on physical activity levels amongst (i) older people, (ii) disabled people and (iii) women and girls.

The Government is committed to improving access to sports and physical activity for everyone, including disabled people, older people and women and girls. Sport and physical activity is central to achieving our health and opportunity manifesto missions, with the biggest gains coming from supporting those who are inactive to move more.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in sport and to boost diversity at a grassroots level to give more and better opportunities to all.

Sport England provides long term investment to The Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for 5 years from 2022 to invest in community tennis initiatives that will benefit everyone, including disabled people.

Decisions with regards to future departmental budgets will be made as part of the spending review process.