Sports: Children
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure children, especially from lower-income families, have access to regular, free community sports activities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including children and young people, have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government provides the majority of support for community sport through Sport England, our Arm’s Length Body for grassroots sport, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in grassroots sport, including providing more opportunities for children and young people from all backgrounds to be active.
As examples of the support they provide, Sport England’s online resource, Buddle, offers free online guidance to support sports clubs offering sport and physical activity opportunities for everyone, including children and young people. They also encourage the sport sector to prioritise young people's perspectives through their free online Youth Voice Innovation Storybook.
Sport England also use campaigns to encourage young people to get active.The Studio You partnership for PE teachers is powered by their This Girl Can campaign and funded by The National Lottery, and is a digital exercise platform for teenage girls across England, which teaches a variety of non-competitive activities to ensure no girl is left behind in PE. The Play Their Way campaign for sports coaches empowers coaches to adopt a child-first approach to coaching so children and young people have the best experience possible when developing their interest in sport.
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