Football and Dementia

Stuart Andrew Excerpts

Thursday 14th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stuart Andrew)]

I, too, congratulate the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford), the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) and my hon. Friend the Member for Moray (Douglas Ross) on securing this important debate. I thank all Members for the constructive manner in which it has been held. I would also like to take this opportunity, if I may, to welcome my new opposite number, the hon. Member for Barnsley East (Stephanie Peacock). I look forward to working with her very closely on the important issues we will be facing. I also put on record my thanks to her predecessor, the hon. Member for Manchester, Withington (Jeff Smith), who was extremely constructive and very easy to work with. On that note, there has been much coverage of the fact that the new shadow Secretary of State has not attended a football or rugby match before, so may I take this opportunity to extend my plus-one to the next game I am invited to?

I have enjoyed the cross-party approach to the debate. The hon. Member for Easington talked about the England win in 1966 under a Labour Government. Well, this Conservative Government are very proud of the tremendous successes and efforts of the Lionesses.

[Ian Blackford]

It is important that we applaud the growth and success of the women’s game, and reflect on how much things have changed. In Scotland, we often think about a woman called Rose Reilly, who was not permitted to play football in Scotland and had to go abroad. She ended up as the captain of the Italian women’s team that won the World cup. Thank goodness people can now play for Scotland or for the Lionesses. We should make sure that we get behind women’s football and support it, including in relation to dementia and other such diseases.

[Stuart Andrew]

I could not agree more with the right hon. Gentleman. I will come on to women’s football shortly, because some of the contributions have highlighted the fact that we have come such a long way, which is fantastic, although it is extraordinary that we have had to go on this journey.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)—I am pleased to say that I will be visiting his constituency next week—clearly has a very wise wife. Not only did she marry him, but she is a Leeds United supporter. He worried me slightly as he built up the expectations for my response to this debate, but I will endeavour to do what I can.

The issue of dementia in football is clearly very important, and it touches the hearts of many people. Indeed, we have heard some extraordinary examples today, bringing testament to extremely emotional stories and accounts such as those of Jeff Astle and Gordon McQueen. I am grateful to Members for raising those important personal stories, because it is important to remember that we are talking about individuals and their families. The fact that the debate has drawn such cross-party support demonstrates the depth of feeling about this vital issue across the House, as well as in wider society.

The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. On top of that, I know how important football clubs and players are to our local communities. Recent examples of dementia-related deaths of former footballers are of great concern to Members across the House, and certainly to me as the Minister for sport. The vast majority of people participate in sport safely, but we know that head injuries in sport do occur. Player safety must be a major focus for sport, as we highlighted in our recently published strategy, “Get Active”. Much more work is still needed to ensure that robust measures are in place to reduce risk, and to improve the diagnosis and management of sport-related head injury at all levels of sport. That should apply not just during matches, but during training. There should be provision for both professional and amateur players. That will be a key focus as we start to implement the strategy. I can assure the House that I will continue to make sure it is a high priority for me personally.

As we have heard, sports’ national governing bodies are rightly responsible for the regulation of their sport and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from serious injuries. We look to individual sports to take responsibility for the safety of their participants. I am pleased to say that positive progress has been made in this area across different sports over recent years.

In football, for example, as others have mentioned, the football associations have changed their guidelines to prevent under 11s heading footballs during training in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, it is not just national governing bodies that are contributing to improvements in player safety. Player associations play a valuable role in supporting professional players, providing short and long-term support to those affected by sporting injuries. In all the meetings that I have had with those player associations, I have taken every issue that they have raised with me up with the relevant agencies straightaway, because I recognise its importance.

The Government are also leading work on brain injuries in sport, specifically concussion. As part of that, my Department has worked with interested parties to develop the first ever single set of shared concussion guidelines for grassroots sport across the UK. It was published in April. The guidelines were developed by a panel of UK and international experts in the field of sport-related concussion. They build on the world-leading work that was first conducted in Scotland; I pay tribute to Professor Willie Stewart for the work that he did. We remain grateful to Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish colleagues for their support in expanding the remit of the new guidelines to cover the whole of the UK. I also want to say thank you to Professor James Calder and Laurence Geller for helping us to get to this point.

[Grahame Morris]

On that point about concussion injury, I assume that that would happen from, say, a clash of heads in a football game, but that does not address the fundamental point of repetitive injury through many hours of heading the ball in football training. Is the Minister in a position to have discussions with his colleagues in the DWP about referral to the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, because the evidence is clear?

[Stuart Andrew]

The hon. Gentleman is pre-empting later parts of my speech, but I think that it is important to highlight the concussion guidance. It is important that we give information to grassroots organisations that often will not have medical advisers on hand. Having that information available for grassroots volunteers is incredibly important and valuable, but that is the start of our work.

As I say, the guidelines are for the use of everyone involved in grassroots sports from school age upwards: participants, coaches, volunteers and parents, as well as those working in education settings and healthcare professions. The guidelines are especially helpful for grassroots players and being able to recognise and respond to concussion symptoms appropriately when no trained medical person is on hand; as we know, that is more likely to be the case than in a professional setting. Through the guidelines, we want to encourage more people to enjoy the benefits of being active and playing sport and we hope that they will prove to be a helpful tool in reducing the risks associated with concussion.

We have also established a research group on concussion in sport. My hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Anna Firth) and the hon. Member for Easington mentioned international experts, and I am pleased to say that they will be represented so that we draw on the latest and best information. The group is working across the sport and academic sectors to identify the key research questions on sports concussion that need to be addressed. The aim is for the research efforts to become more co-ordinated across sport so that the sector can pool its understanding and expertise. Just a few months ago, I went to see some of the incredible work that Loughborough University is doing in this area and some of the equipment it uses to test what would make sport safer for all.

Alongside that work, DCMS has established an advisory concussion in sport innovation and technology panel to identify tech innovations to help with concussion in sport issues on an ongoing basis. The Department for Health and Social Care is formulating the Government’s new strategy on acquired brain injury, including dementia, and DCMS is feeding into the process to ensure that those who play sport are properly represented. We remain committed to working with the sector to help to make sport safe and enjoyable for everyone, including through technological solutions for the prevention of concussion.

To turn to more specific points, as the Chair of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage), mentioned, there have been developments within football, too. The Professional Footballers’ Association and Premier League recently established a new care fund to provide financial support to former players who have been affected by dementia and their families. The initial amount of £1 million will be made available immediately to provide discretionary financial support to former players and their families to help to improve the quality of their life. I have discussed the great work of the Professional Footballers’ Association on player welfare with its chief executive.

As it is the first of its kind for English football, I welcome the creation of the fund and hope it will provide help to the former players who need it most. We will continue to liaise with the football authorities in support of funding for cross-game initiatives. The Professional Footballers’ Association also has a dedicated brain health team that provides a range of support to former players and their families, including assistance with claiming state support and benefits.

During the debate, there has been discussion about whether dementia in footballers should be treated as an industrial disease. The Department for Work and Pensions provides specific support to people with industrial injuries through industrial injuries disablement benefit. As many will know, DWP is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, an independent specific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which IIDB can be paid. I know that many Members feel strongly that professional footballers’ access to such benefits should be explored, as was mentioned by many members, including the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens).

The hon. Member for Easington asked whether I could instruct the IIAC. If I had that power, I would love to use it, but I am pleased that the council is considering any connection between professional sportspeople and neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia. The council will publish its findings when its investigation is complete in due course, but given that the question has been raised a number of times, I will of course highlight the debate and the views raised in it to my colleagues in the DWP. It is important to remember that this is a complex area of work, and that going through the raft of published scientific literature that is available is significant work.

[Chris Stephens]

That is a very helpful response from the Minister and we would certainly welcome that. Could he perhaps facilitate some discussion with the IIAC and hon. Members who might be interested? I think a number of us would be interested to have such a discussion, if he could feed that back. We could then report back to our constituents. I welcome the comments that he has just made.

[Stuart Andrew]

The hon. Gentleman will appreciate that the IIAC is an independent body, but I would absolutely be more than happy to write to it or to my colleagues in DWP to say that colleagues in this House would welcome the opportunity to engage with the council.

[Grahame Morris]

I welcome the Minister’s response; that is real progress and we are very grateful for it. I do not want to pre-empt what he is going to say, but in terms of exerting his influence—particularly over the Premier League, for example, which is awash with huge sums of money to assist in this process—may I say that because I represent a coal mining area, I have had occasion to try to push the IIAC and to get it to make decisions on conditions affecting coal miners, and it notoriously takes an age. If there is anything he can do to expedite that, it would be much appreciated.

[Stuart Andrew]

Although I am flattered that Members think I have all this power to force people to do things, I am totally aware of my own limitations. I will do what I can and I will certainly highlight the issue. I do understand.

This is a complex area of work. There is a lot of information and research for the advisory council to consider, and it is right that it does so properly, so that it can come up with the right conclusion. Once the advisory council has reported, colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions will carefully consider any recommendations.

It is also important to talk about dementia research, which is important to tackling the issue. I am delighted that the Department of Health and Social Care will double funding for dementia research to £160 million a year by 2024-25, spanning all areas of research, to deliver evidence to help us prevent, diagnose and treat dementia. The Government launched the Dame Barbara Windsor dementia mission in August 2022, and this will focus on accelerating the development of new treatments and boosting the number and speed of clinical trials for dementia. Departments are doing a raft of other things, recognising that this is an incredibly important area and that this disease has a big impact not only on sufferers but on the wider family network and carers.

I note that my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West has taken the opportunity to wear the colours of her beloved football club, and I pay tribute to her for the immense work she is doing to support that club through these difficult times. She is right about the support that many clubs offer. She referenced SUEPA and it is important to acknowledge that.

The hon. Members for Easington and for East Renfrewshire (Kirsten Oswald) both mentioned women’s football, where there is a lot for us to celebrate—it is amazing to see what has happened. The hon. Lady was told that she could not play football and, sadly, that was still the case after the Lionesses came home victorious from the Euros, with only 63% of girls finding they were able to access football at school. Thanks to their persuasive campaigning and our work with the Department for Education, I am pleased to say that we have made big strides in levelling that playing field. I look forward to seeing women’s football go from strength to strength. We commissioned an independent report; I am grateful to Karen Carney for all her work. We are considering many of her recommendations. Of course, players’ physical and mental health features in the report and it is important that we include it.

There is much good work going on in this area but, of course, there is always more to do. We recognise the strength of feeling on the issue of dementia in football and the effect it has on those who suffer from this terrible illness, as well as on their families. We will continue to work with the sport sector, including the football authorities, to ensure that player safety is prioritised so that everyone can take part in sport as safely as possible.