Our local pools and leisure centres provide vital services for health, wellbeing, and community connection. Our local centres' vital services include those such as swimming lessons for children which are essential for water safety, multi-sport offerings, mental health services, bespoke programmes for older citizens, ethnically diverse communities, disabled people and women and girls, and long-term health programmes including cancer rehabilitation and support for those with musculoskeletal conditions and type 2 diabetes.
Many local authorities have provided funds to improve their facilities and services. For example, East Suffolk has invested heavily to update and refurbish their leisure facilities to make them more sustainable and provide the community with quality facilities to support better health prevention opportunities. However, recently many of them have faced significant financial pressures.
High energy costs have put significant strain on these centres' ability to effectively operate. I was proud to join with Steve Gallant, the Leader of East Suffolk Council, in calling for the Government to provide extra support for these important local hubs.
In today's Spring Budget statement, I was pleased that the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the Government will be providing £60m worth of funding to pools and leisure centres. This will support these facilities in offsetting high energy costs, and ensure that they can continue providing important services.
The Chancellor made special mention of our work on behalf of this issue, and I would like to thank Steve Gallant and the rest of East Suffolk Council for their strong advocacy. It is greatly appreciated by the wider community of pools and leisure centres, and I am glad that we were able to play a part in supporting these facilities both locally and nationally.
I look forward to working with East Suffolk Council in ensuring this support is effectively delivered, and I am thankful that residents can rest assured that these vital services will continue to be delivered.