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 support speedway operators during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will ensure that (a) guidance and (b) a support package is in place to support the safe resumption of speedway events.

A full suite of guidance currently available to the sport sector is published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-phased-return-of-sport-and-recreation.

We have published guidance specifically on the return of outdoor sport and recreation and organised sport and physical activity; we have published guidance to support the return of elite and professional sport to training and competition behind closed doors; and we are now working to facilitate the return of spectators to elite and professional sport. A multidisciplinary working group, including medical directors from a number of sports, has produced draft guidance around the return of spectators to stadia, under which a number of pilots will operate from the end of July, aiming for a full return of spectators to stadia with social distancing from Oct 1st.

The Government has delivered a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support.

The government is continuing to work closely with the sector to understand the issues they face and discuss how we can support them further.