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

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Sport England about ensuring Parkrun collects sufficient sex data to monitor female activity and therefore evaluate the impact of its £5 million grant.

Tackling disparities in levels of participation in sport and physical activity is central to Sport England’s ten-year ‘Uniting the Movement’ strategy and the Government’s ‘Get Active’ strategy, through which we have set a target of having 1.25 million more active women by 2030.

Sport England’s strategy is clear that all funding partners must work towards delivering its strategic priorities. Sport England previously awarded Parkrun £3 million between December 2018 and December 2021. The strategic purpose of this award was to start 200 new runs, with specific participation targets for women and people from lower socio-economic groups.

In 2022 Parkrun became a Sport England system partner receiving £5 million of public investment with a view to making sport and physical activity more accessible to all over the next five years. Sport England monitors this investment, ensuring that Parkrun delivers against the range of priorities in Sport England’s strategy. The Department works closely with Sport England to monitor the delivery of this strategy, including key ambitions to increase participation of women and girls.