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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has for the future (a) use and (b) expansion of Lilleshall Hall National Sports Centre; and if she will make a statement.

Lilleshall National Sports Centre provides opportunities for elite and talent pathway athletes as part of National Governing Body (NGB) programmes. The centre is part of the national Elite Training Centre network of facilities which also provide support through the English Institute of Sport (EIS) athlete rehabilitation programmes. These activities are provided alongside opportunities for local people and community organisations/clubs to take part in a range of activities.

UK Sport, Sport England, EIS and stakeholders including British Gymnastics, GB Archery and the Royal British Legion Battleback programme collaborate and combine to provide a range of activities on site.

An element of commercial activity such as conferences take place at Lilleshall and this helps to underpin the financial viability of the site and enables the provision of sporting activity. There are no plans for this to change.

The centre has benefitted from investment over recent years, including state of the art gymnastics facilities, renovation of the Lilleshall Main House listed building, new hockey pitches and office accommodation for NGB’s. Future plans for investment include improved archery facilities and the expansion of the Royal British Legion Battleback programme which include the hosting of the Invictus Games programme.