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 increase girl’s participation in rugby.

The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, are able to participate in sport and physical activity.

Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has inspired millions of women and girls to get active and anticipates that 1.6 million women will be active as a result of the campaign by 2028.

Sport England have awarded the Rugby Football Union £13,859,000 as one of their long-term system partners for the period 2022-27 to support grassroots men’s and women’s rugby union.

DCMS has provided £17.98 million of investment to support England hosting the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, including £6.77m legacy funding.

This tournament can be the springboard for women's rugby, just as the women's EUROs in 2022 was for women’s football. A record-breaking 400,000 tickets have been sold and 43,500 women and girls are now playing rugby. The legacy programme, Impact 25, is pivotal in cementing rugby as a game for all- improving facilities, reaching 850 clubs up and down the country, and supporting greater opportunities for women and girls of all ages to get involved.

We’re also launching the Women’s Sport Taskforce at the Rugby World Cup to tackle challenges and barriers facing women and girls in sport, including rugby, from grassroots to elite. Meeting actions will be published on gov.uk.