Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to include the Women’s World Cup Football Finals in the Listed Events category for free to air sports viewing.

Coverage of women’s professional sport on free to air television has improved significantly in the last ten years, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Euro Championships, Women’s Rugby World Cup, cycling and tennis being regular fixtures on the BBC and ITV.

We know that more can be done to improve equality in sports broadcasting. That is why we have just announced our proposal to add the Paralympic Games to the list and we have started the statutory consultation process to do that. We are also considering the addition of women’s only sporting events where the equivalent men’s only tournaments are currently listed, which we plan to consult on later in the year. This is to give equal recognition to disabled and women’s sports.