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 help encourage girls to participate in grassroots rugby in (a) schools and (b) local clubs through its funding for the Impact 25 programme.

Since July 2024 the Government has invested £6.78m in Impact 25 the legacy programme for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Impact 25 supports women's and girls' clubs across England as part of the Rugby Football Union’s ambition to widen female participation. It has provided investment to 850 clubs to improve facilities and to train 3,385 new female coaches and match officials, making coaching sessions and matches more accessible contributing to a 35% increase in female age grade registrations in England rising from 17,700 places in 2022 to 23,900 in 2025.

The programme has provided direct support to clubs in the West Dorset constituency, providing £10,000 of funding to Bridport RFC , Dorchester RFC and Sherborne RFC. Each club received funding for a ‘Girls Activity Day Pack’ to introduce girls aged 6-12 to rugby with activities, merchandise, and prizes (such as tickets to a Women's Rugby World Cup match). All clubs also received sanitary product packages which are made freely available in club restrooms.

More broadly, we want as many girls as possible to get involved in sport and physical activity, including in schools. That is why on 19 June 2025, the Government announced a new School Sport Partnerships model and a new Enrichment Framework for schools to ensure all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity. Girls will be given the same opportunity as boys to play sports at school.