Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Football Association on women’s football.
Sport England’s awarding of £14.6million to the Football Association to support the grassroots between 2017-21 includes £2.6million for the development of talented women and girls, specifically.
Since 2010, National Lottery and Exchequer funding combined with investment from the Football Association and Premier League has seen a total of over £264 million go towards grassroots programmes and facilities in England intended to be used by men, women, boys and girls. Over £9 million of this has been spent in London, with £239,085 to support football projects in Lewisham and Deptford alone.
Further help towards realising the FA’s ambition to double female participation over the next five years will remain at the forefront of the regular discussions I have with football’s national governing body.