PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Access to Sport: Poorer Families - 3 September 2026 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

Everyone, regardless of background, should have access to quality sporting opportunities. Sport England targets investment towards deprived communities and places with the greatest need. For example, 50% of the awards from its £160 million movement fund have gone to areas ranked in the top 25% for greatest need.

Four of my constituents—Ethan, Harrison, Jude and Lukas—who train at the Martial X Academy in Woking have been selected to represent their country in next month’s martial arts world championships. As well as wishing them well, I hope that the Minister will take steps to ensure that the costs that they are having to pay to compete—over £1,000 each—is reduced in future to enable young athletes to represent their country.

I congratulate Ethan, Harrison, Jude and Lukas on their selection to represent England at the martial arts world championships. I am sure that the whole House will want to wish them good luck next month. The Government are committed to ensuring that people, whatever their postcode, can access quality facilities and enjoy the sports that they love. On international representation specifically, the Government directly support Olympic and Paralympic pathways. For other international opportunities, parents should contact the relevant governing bodies or SportsAid for support and advice. Via Sport England, we provide over £60 million of funding to SportsAid, whose backing the best programme helps talented young athletes overcome financial barriers.

This summer, Denbigh Town football club did itself proud as the host of four UEFA under-19 championship games, including a Spain versus Germany match that saw record attendance of almost 2,000 spectators. Thanks to significant investment in Central Park, including a £300,000 Cymru Football Foundation grant funded by this Government, not only is the club now match fit to host international games, but it has top-class facilities all year round for the whole community. Does the Minister agree that the inspiration and opportunities that that brings to children from all walks of life are immeasurable? How are the Government ensuring that facilities like those are available across the country?

My hon. Friend talks about the investment from the Government and the football foundation into Central Park. She is right; we know that the thing that is most likely to get young people active in sport is watching live sport. That is why we are so committed to investing in our community facilities.

I know that the Minister cares deeply about increasing sporting participation, so she must be as disappointed as I am that the Government’s rhetoric just does not match the facts. School sport funding has been cut; business rates rises mean that clubs and facilities are raising their participation fees, some by as much as 85%, making them less accessible for the poorest; local authorities are shutting their facilities; and the UK ranks near the bottom of EU expenditure on sport and physical activity. The Government say that this is important, but how can we believe them when existing facilities are shutting faster than they can invest in new ones?

I am grateful to the Chair of the Select Committee for all the work that her Committee does and for its report in the last year on this very issue. On school sport, £1 billion will go in over the next few years. There has been a change: it is revenue, it is capital and it is primary and secondary. However, we have to acknowledge that under the current system, not enough young people are getting active. We are investing £400 million into community facilities, but as our new Prime Minister has said, we absolutely want to go further and do more on sport.

Does the Minister recognise the disproportionate impact that the removal of the school sport premium will have on children in small rural schools? Is that a conversation that she is having with the Department for Education?

As my hon. Friend will have heard in my answer to the Chair of the Select Committee, we make no apologies for changing the system. Not enough young people are getting active. As a former secondary school teacher, I know how important that is. I am happy to speak to my hon. Friend and, of course, I speak regularly to the Schools Minister about this issue.

I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Making sport more accessible should be the ultimate goal of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and that is why we continue to urge the Government to stop raising taxes on sports clubs and to ensure that all sports, and especially female sports, champion fairness and safety. The Conservative party is clear: all UK sports and their governing bodies must follow the law when it comes to biological sex and ensure that there is a level playing field for female athletes to compete. Will the Government match the Conservative party’s commitment to women’s sport and remove public funding from sports bodies that refuse to follow the law?

We have always been clear that national sporting governing bodies will set their own policies for who can participate. It is incredibly important that we prioritise fairness, safety and competition, while balancing the need for inclusion and ensuring that everyone can participate.