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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take, alongside sporting bodies and associations, to tackle racism in cricket.

Racism has no place in cricket, sport, or wider society. The Government is committed to ensuring that sports bodies do all they can to tackle racism and all forms of discrimination.

In December 2021 DCMS’s arm’s-length bodies UK Sport and Sport England published an updated version of the Code for Sport Governance. As part of this, sports at Tier Three of the Code are required to publish an annual diversity and inclusion action plan with Sport England and/or UK Sport.

Sport England, UK Sport, and the other sports councils across the UK also published the results of a detailed, independent review into tackling racism and racial inequality in sport. In December 2021, the five Sports Councils released a joint update outlining the current actions being taken to address the commitments.

The Government welcomes the recent developments from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC). We will continue to monitor their actions, including the implementation of the ECB’s new plan for diversity and inclusion and YCCC’s pledge to work with it on a game-wide diversity and inclusion action plan.

The Government will continue to liaise with the cricket authorities on tackling racism and hold them to account on this. We reserve the right to take further measures if necessary.