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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to allocate specific funding from the public purse to female grassroots football teams.

We are determined to support more women and girls to get active and football is the most popular team sport in terms of participation for women and girls.

The Lionesses’ fantastic performance at the 2022 Women’s Euros has inspired the nation and it is essential that we take the opportunity to build on the success and legacy of the tournament. This includes Sport England’s investment in 2020 of £1 million into legacy groups to help develop and create recreational women’s football opportunities in each of the nine host cities up and down England. It also includes the Sport England Adult Recreational Football Project, which is led by seven recreational football officers across the country who will develop this area of the game over the next two years.

We will continue to invest in grassroots sport through Sport England funding. In April 2022, Sport England awarded a total of £199,562 in 169 organisations to start new grassroots women’s and girls’ teams in high Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) areas. Sport England has also committed over £26 million until 2027 to support the FA’s aim to harness the power of grassroots football to unite communities and improve the health of the nation.

We are also focused on supporting the future development of women’s and girl’s football, and inspiring the next generation. The recently announced Women’s Football Review will look at how to deliver bold and sustainable growth of the women’s game at elite and grassroots level. The Football Foundation is also working with facility owners to name pitches and facilities in towns and cities that have a strong link to each tournament winning squad member, in order to raise the profile of facilities in the UK, and to commemorate the Lionesses.