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 too increase engagement of women and girls with sport in the north of Greater Manchester.

The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality facilities and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity.

This includes supporting the This Girl Can campaign, run by our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which has inspired millions of women and girls to get active. 1.6 million more women are expected to be active as a result of the campaign by 2028.

The Government is also harnessing the power of hosting major sporting events, such as investing £6.7 million into the Impact 25’ programme for the Women’s Rugby World Cup, which has been used to make facilities more accessible for women, train new female coaches and match officials and provide sanitary packages to clubs nationwide. To honour the Lionesses recent European Championship triumph, the Government has announced new plans that are expected to more than double the share of slots dedicated to women’s and girls’ teams at Government-funded facilities across England over the next five years.

The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public sport and leisure facilities lies at Local Authority level. I will continue to discuss the provision of amenities for women and girls sport with local authorities, Sport England and ministerial colleagues.