Mr. Gareth R. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will take action to ensure that there is public access to artificial turf pitches for football in each parliamentary constituency; and if he will make a statement. [118956]
§ Kate HoeyThere are 577 sites in England providing full size, synthetic turf pitches for community or club use. A further 12 sites have, in principle, been awarded funding from the Lottery Sports Fund. Sport England will shortly be carrying out a detailed analysis of the provision of synthetic turf pitches. Any gaps in existing provision will be assessed on the basis of the size of the population served, rather than by parliamentary constituency. The adequacy of the provision of pitches in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is assessed in the same way.