I refer the hon. Member for Cheltenham to the answer of 26 June 2026 to Question 11062.

The Government is committed to ensuring children and young people, including girls, have opportunities to participate in sport. Ensuring children have the best start in life is crucial to raising the healthiest and happiest generation ever.

We are introducing a new approach to PE and school sport, which will ensure girls have equality of access. In addition, the ‘This Girl Can’ campaign, run by Sport England, encourages women and girls to get active, regardless of their shape, size or ability. The campaign’s related initiatives such as Disney Dance Alongs and Move for 10 are encouraging more women to get active with their children. The Government’s Let’s Move campaign is also helping families discover simple, fun ways to get children moving more everyday.

Government’s £400m investment into grassroots facilities over the next four years has a key objective of increasing access and participation levels for girls. £85 million is being invested in 2026/27, with 30% of priority pitch slots reserved for women’s and girls’ teams.

We are also using the Women’s Sport Taskforce to support the sector to collectively drive a Decade of Change in women’s sport, and tackle the challenges and barriers facing women and girls from grassroots to elite.

Whilst the PE and sport premium could be used by schools to hire external coaches to teach specialist sports and physical activities, it cannot be used to fund staff salaries.

The government has confirmed funding for the School Games Organiser Network until the end of the 2026/27 financial year, supporting schools, increasing participation and delivering inclusive school sport opportunities and competitions.

The government is investing over £1 billion in PE, school sport and physical activity through to 2029, including more than £530 million for the Partnerships Network. Our new approach will ensure funding makes a real difference in tackling inactivity and providing equal access to sport for all pupils. Support will align more closely with wider programmes and include competitive sport opportunities, extra-curricular activities and inclusive events for less‑active pupils.

Following the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers and the updated Equality and Human Rights Commission Code of Practice, which came into force on 5 August 2026, the Sports Councils agreed that the Transgender Inclusion in Domestic Sport Guidance should be reviewed.

Sport England is leading work on behalf of the Home Country Sports Councils to commission an independent review, which will consider the latest scientific, medical and policy evidence to ensure future guidance reflects the current legal framework.

Every child should have the opportunity to participate in physical education (PE), school sport and physical activity.

The government accepted the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review and has committed to strengthening the curriculum to give PE a clear purpose for every pupil, supporting schools to ensure all children, including pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), can participate meaningfully in PE and benefit from being physically active. The government is committed to supporting curriculum adaptation for all children and young people, recognising that early identification, high expectations and effective intervention are essential to overcoming barriers to learning.

The government-funded Inclusion 2028 programme supports a network of Lead Inclusion Schools, providing guidance and training to help teachers deliver inclusive PE, school sport and physical activity for pupils with SEND. The new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network will build on this by targeting the least active children, providing flexible local support, and concentrating on improving school-club links through peer learning and the Continuing Professional Development programme to create a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable system.

The Government is committed to ensuring every child, including disabled and neurodivergent children, has access to inclusive opportunities in grassroots sport and physical activity.

Our arm’s length body Sport England invests in targeted programmes aimed at making sport more inclusive, such as Neurodiverse Sport and Autism Action. It also funds partners like Activity Alliance to understand the barriers to participation for disabled and neurodiverse people, and support sports organisations to offer inclusive activity.

In addition, the Government’s new approach to school sport, the PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, aims to ensure more young people have access to high quality PE and school sport and break down barriers for children who are less active, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The Government expects all sports bodies and clubs to fulfil their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010. Any failure to comply with the law is not acceptable and undermines the goal of promoting inclusive and welcoming environments for all.

The Government is committed to ensuring that as many women and girls as possible have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our arm’s -length body, Sport England, which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year to help people get active, including women and girls.

Sport England supports the work of the local Active Partnership which covers East Grinstead and Uckfield, Active ​Sussex, who champion physical activity with local leaders to develop interventions tailored to communities. Alongside this, Sport England invested £57,019 into sports-related projects in the constituency of East Grinstead and Uckfield in 2025/26.

In addition, Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has also inspired millions of women and girls across the country to get active. 1.6 million more women are expected to be active as a result of the campaign by 2028.

The Government is committed to ensuring that as many women and girls as possible have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our arm’s -length body, Sport England, which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year to help people get active, including women and girls.

Sport England supports the work of the local Active Partnership which covers East Grinstead and Uckfield, Active ​Sussex, who champion physical activity with local leaders to develop interventions tailored to communities. Alongside this, Sport England invested £57,019 into sports-related projects in the constituency of East Grinstead and Uckfield in 2025/26.

In addition, Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has also inspired millions of women and girls across the country to get active. 1.6 million more women are expected to be active as a result of the campaign by 2028.

The Government is committed to ensuring that as many women and girls as possible have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our arm’s -length body, Sport England, which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year to help people get active, including women and girls.

Sport England supports the work of the local Active Partnership which covers East Grinstead and Uckfield, Active ​Sussex, who champion physical activity with local leaders to develop interventions tailored to communities. Alongside this, Sport England invested £57,019 into sports-related projects in the constituency of East Grinstead and Uckfield in 2025/26.

In addition, Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has also inspired millions of women and girls across the country to get active. 1.6 million more women are expected to be active as a result of the campaign by 2028.

The current approved Physical Examinations Activity List is based on the activity’s suitability for assessment against nationally applied criteria, rather than the existence of a governing body alone.

We have outlined our commitment to revisit the activity list following the Curriculum and Assessment Review undertaken last year. We will ensure that the list is inclusive to all children and that any amendments to the activity list maintains the standard of the qualification.

The government has no plans to commission a further independent review. HM Treasury published a Tax Impact and Information Note setting out a comprehensive assessment of the VAT policy, and the underlying costings were scrutinised and certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.

The department continues to monitor the impact of VAT on independent schools and pupil movements. Latest data remains within historic norms and is consistent with the government’s estimates.

The Government is committed to driving participation in sport and physical activity in areas of greatest need across the UK. To help achieve this, we are investing £85 million in grassroots sports facilities via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities (MSGF) Programme in 2026/27, which is part of an overall investment of £400m into grassroots sport facilities through to 2030.

Ashfield has received a total of £1,895,206 through the MSGF Programme, which is delivered via the Football Foundation in England and funds projects such as new artificial grass pitches (AGPs), changing rooms and pavilions, and floodlights. As part of this, applicants to the Programme must support football participation alongside another sport.

We provide the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our arm’s-length body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions. Sport England is investing £37,935,000 between 2022-2029 to provide support for grassroots football via the Football Association.

The government is committed to supporting grassroots sport clubs, which play an important role within communities across the country.

Sport England has a vital role play to support grassroots sports clubs to be financially sustainable. Through free to access resources, such as their online Buddle tool, they provide guidance to sports clubs on approaches to raising revenue and becoming self-sufficient.

Through their Movement Fund, which offers grants ranging from £300 - £15,000 to sports clubs to improve physical activity opportunities they are actively championing alternative approaches to raising revenue such as via their partnership with Crowdfunder Ltd.

Multi-Academy trusts wishing to dispose of school land are required under both legislation and the terms of their funding agreements to seek the consent of the Secretary of State. The department publishes guidance on the consent process at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6abcb46c3239bb3cc19f51d5/Involving_the_Secretary_of_State_in_land_transactions.pdf .

For disposal of school playing fields, the department would ask for details of local consultation, and how any existing community use of the land would be affected.

Where land is being disposed of, the guidance includes that multi academy trusts must provide “an explanation of how you have assured yourself that the consideration received represents best value” and then clarifies that “best value, in this context, will normally be the best price reasonably obtainable in the market or the open market value, but may, exceptionally, include other benefits which can be assessed in monetary terms”. Social and environmental well-being can therefore be factored into an assessment of value for a disposal, depending on the circumstances.

No such assessment has been made, and none is planned at this time. But we take any evidence of public health problems seriously, and continue to monitor the concerns that have been raised on this issue.