Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the basis for requiring parts of sports stands to have a form of rail seating to improve safe standing and other adjoining seats, in the same seating area, not to be included.
The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) has already set out the technical requirements needed for seats with barriers or independent barriers in the current (6th) edition of its Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide). Additionally, the SGSA’s current all-seater policy enforcement approach details, amongst other things, how to identify risks to spectator safety arising from persistent standing in seated areas, and potential mitigation for such risks.
It is for a football club to decide, in consultation with the relevant local authority and other partners, which parts of its ground would benefit from seats with barriers or seats with independent barriers to address the identified risks to spectator safety.