Increasing sports participation among women and girls will be one of the "cornerstones" of a new government drive for sport, according to sports minister Mims Davies.

In her first national newspaper interview since succeeding Tracey Crouch – published in the Daily Telegraph – Davies outlined how a cross-departmental school sport action plan, due to be published later this spring, will target physical inactivity among hard-to-reach segments, including young girls.

“We are really concerned about the inactivity of our youngsters,” Davies told the Telegraph. “If you don’t get a sporting habit for life when you come through school, it is more difficult to come back."

Davies also pledged to "transform" the visibility of elite sportswomen in the UK.

“The more you see people who look like you the more you feel you can achieve it,” she said. “That’s visibility. That’s real equality.

"Sport for women shouldn’t be niche. Women’s sport on television remains too much of a novelty. We have some of the most amazing sporting stars on the planet. I recently met Nikita Parris. What a role model. What a star. Dina Asher-Smith, Laura Muir – so inspiring."

To read the full interview, click here for the Daily Telegraph website.