Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of racial attacks in football game settings in the last 12 months.

The Government is determined to tackle hate crime across England and Wales, including offences that occur at football matches, and we are clear there is no place for racism in sport or society.

We have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to all forms of hate crime, including racial attacks. There is an expectation in law that anyone convicted of a hate crime offence linked to a football match will receive a football banning order, preventing them from attending all regulated football matches in England and Wales for a period of three to five years, or six to ten years if a custodial sentence is imposed.

We back the police in taking strong action against perpetrators of these appalling offences and we are continuing to fund the UK Football Policing Unit, which works in conjunction with the Government and the National Police Chiefs’ Council Football Lead (NPCC) to reduce all forms of violence, anti-social behaviour and disorder at football events involving UK football teams.

The Home Office publishes annual statistics on football-related disorder in England and Wales. This includes information on the number of matches with reported incidents of hate crimes relating to race. The latest available data, which covers the 2023 to 2024 season, can be found in table 11 of the supporting data tables to the Football-related arrests and banning orders publication on GOV.UK: 'Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales: 2023 to 2024 data tables'.

The Government also works with sports bodies, including Sport England, UK Sport, and national governing bodies, to tackle racism and discrimination in sport, and we expect them to take robust action whenever it occurs.

Policing is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland.