Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 103
Mandate Sport England to oversee Swim England's response to coaching issues and culture.
Conclusion
Public weighing and body-shaming of girls and young women is wholly unacceptable. That this should have occurred in a sports environment, in which girls already face barriers to participation, is deplorable. Swim England must restore trust in swimming’s coaching practices and culture, and Sport England must oversee the change process until this is achieved. Sport England must, in response to this Report in no later than two months, update us on its assessment of Swim England’s response to the issues and the steps it is taking to oversee the situation.
Government Response Summary
The government generally agrees with the report's aims and highlights existing commitments and targets for women's and girls' participation in sport. However, it does not specifically address the call for Sport England to oversee Swim England or provide an update within two months.
Paragraph Reference:
103
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government welcomes the Women and Equalities Select Committee report on health barriers for girls and women in sport. We recognise the need for more awareness and understanding of the health and physiological needs of women and girls across sport. The Government is committed to supporting women’s sport, health and physical activity at every opportunity including pushing for greater participation. The Women and Equalities Select Committee report covers some of the same areas as the Government commissioned Independent Review of Women’s Football1 which Government accepted and is taking action on those areas it is responsible for. Recommendations that are particularly relevant to women and girls participation include delivering on commitments around equal access to school sport for girls, increasing investment in order to accommodate meaningful access for women and girls, and ensuring women and girls are benefiting from funding flowing into facilities across the pyramid. Government is taking action to address this with unprecedented levels of facilities investment, most recently with the £30 million Lionesses Futures Fund focused on supporting more opportunities for women and girls. We have also committed to over £600m investment across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years for the PE and Sport Premium–a funding commitment to improve the quality of PE and sports in primary schools to help all children benefit from regular physical activity. The report also aligns with the objectives detailed in the Government’s sport strategy, Get Active2, which sets out the importance of sport and physical activity for all. Get Active highlights our ambition to make the nation more active and our expectation for the sector to be working to overcome the barriers for individuals and to focus on those most in need. It includes bold national participation targets of an additional 2.5 million adults, 1.25 million women and 1 million children active by 2030. At its heart is a new National Physical Activity Taskforce which brings the Government and the sector together to drive the strategy forward and track progress on these goals. We recognise that there are various obstacles which still exist that prevent women and other under-represented groups from taking part in sport and wider physical activity including fear of judgement, lacking confidence, and not having enough time. Therefore, we accept most of the report recommendations. We will continue to work with the sector to remove the barriers that prevent women and girls from being active and continue to 1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/raising-the-bar-reframing-the-opportunity-in-womens-football 2 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-active-a-strategy-for-the-future-of-sport-and-physical- activity 4 Health barriers for girls and women in sport: Government and Sport England responses give women and girls a voice on what they want. What matters is that women and girls are getting active in a way that suits them, making them more likely to continue being active in future. Barriers to girls’ participation