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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to invest in grassroots cricket.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.

This already includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, the National Governing Body for cricket, which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives.

The Government also announced another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation following the Spending Review. We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans. I met with the England and Wales Cricket Board, among other sports, to discuss this last week.