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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to promote the provision of local sporting facilities for (a) women and (b) general use.

Having safe and better sporting facilities can make a significant difference in getting more women active. Sport England invests to improve the quality and features of all types of facilities, from small local clubs to major projects. Between 2013 and 2017 its total investment in facilities will be over £300 million.

Sport England’s experience has shown that the quality of changing facilities has a significant impact on women and girls’ inclination to play sport. In the last round of its Inspired Facilities fund (Round 7) Sport England invested £2.7 million to help local sports clubs upgrade and improve their changing facilities.

Sport England has a statutory planning role which means it has to be consulted on all planning applications that affect playing fields.

In 2012/13, 94 per cent of the applications resulted in the places where people play sport being improved or safeguarded. (Published in December 2014, these are the most recent figures available, due to the length of time individual planning processes can take to complete.)