Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the role of (a) Premier League football clubs and (b) Football League clubs in helping to improve public health in their communities.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has not undertaken an assessment of the role of premier league and football league clubs in helping to improve public health in their communities.

OHID are however aware of the community public health programmes undertaken by the Premier League and English Football League clubs, which are often commissioned or delivered with local authority public health teams and the National Health Service.

The clubs deliver interventions such as smoking cessation, health checks, physical activity, healthy eating promotion and weight management services. OHID’s Better Health campaign is partnering with the English Football League Trust who are delivering the Fit Fans health programme, which is a behaviour change weight management programme delivered through the coaching staff, in a number of clubs across the country.