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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to take steps to utilise the success of the 2015 UK Open Golf tournament to increase participation in that sport.

I am committed to ensuring that sport has the opportunity to thrive in this country. Golf is a sport for a wide range of people and it is important that it is promoted to as broad an audience as possible. The current Active People Survey results show that 727,700 people aged 16+ are playing golf each week. Major sporting events, like the Open, are a fantastic opportunity to get more people playing sport.

The England Golf Partnership is working with partners including England Golf and Sport England to increase the numbers of people playing golf. In July 2014 England Golf launched its new strategic plan, ‘Raising our Game’, which focuses on getting more people involved. The England Golf Partnership has also joined up with Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign and recently launched its own ‘This Girl Can Golf’ initiative to get more women playing golf