To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any consideration he has given to rural-specific challenges identified in the Winter 2024-25 Northern Ireland Pulse Report, produced by the charity Sported, such as poor access to facilities and transport barriers for young people.

This issue is an operational matter for Sport NI. I have sought the requested information from the Chief Executive, who has advised me as follows:

“Sport NI is aware of poor access to facilities in rural areas and transport barriers to access the facilities that are available. Sport NI would note that due to the population density it is not always possible to have comparative sports facilities in rural areas as in urban areas. Sport NI would support better transport links from a sporting perspective; but would note that public transport in rural areas has a greater role than to solely facilitate access to sport and physical activity and that the Department for Infrastructure has responsibility for this.

However, Sport NI have been operating a Programme, Your School Your Club, which provides funding to schools to develop their existing school facilities for opening to community use. This maximises the use of both existing facilities and existing public transport links in both rural and urban areas. Sport NI have also operated other programmes that were open to clubs and community groups across Northern Ireland to develop facilities to increase participation in sport and physical activity in both rural and urban areas”.

For any future queries relating to operational matters, you may wish to contact the Sport NI directly. Making direct contact with the ALB will ensure that you receive the information in the shortest possible timeframe and make best use of public resources.

I can also advise that a Rural Needs Impact Assessment process is followed at the inception of policies, programmes, standalone projects or major budget allocation decisions within my Department in order to ensure that rural needs are fully considered.