Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding her Department has provided to football academies in the last three years; and (a) what projects have been funded and (b) how many participants there have been in (i) those projects and (ii) each academy.

I refer the MP to the answer given on 5 December 2016 to question 55137, which provided the following answer:

The Department for Education funds sports provision in a wide range of schools, colleges and other providers. The Department does not directly fund any football or other sport academies, but it does fund League Football Education and the FA Premier League Limited for delivery of education and training in association with football clubs.

Some education and training linked to football clubs is also delivered through sub-contracting arrangements with funded institutions. The Department does not hold information on the numbers of students who drop out from sports academies.

The Department currently funds 16 to 19 provision in 36 schools and academies that have sports as a specialism and are identified as such in their title. The allocations to those schools and academies, along with the allocations for all other 16 to 19 provision, are published online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2016-to-2017-academic-year and:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2016-to-2017

Most students enrolled on sports provision are enrolled on general qualifications that are not specific to any particular sport.