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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of diversity in the administration of English cricket; and what plans they have to support or require the England and Wales Cricket Board to increase levels of diversity as a condition of receipt of future public funding.

Racism has no place in cricket, sport, or wider society. The Government is committed to ensuring sport does all it can to tackle racism and all forms of discrimination.

The Government believes that sports should be given every opportunity to run their own affairs wherever possible. However, as the Minister for Sport stated in front of the DCMS Select Committee on 18 November, if other actions do not result in meaningful change, independent regulation remains an option that the Government would consider as part of a range of wider measures to address governance and regulation.

We welcome the recent action on tackling racism in cricket from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). We will continue to monitor its actions, including the implementation of the ECB’s new plan for diversity and inclusion. One of the key commitments of this plan is to improve diversity in leadership and governance positions across cricket.

Sport England funding is explicitly linked to the development and implementation of robust diversity and inclusion policies and plans. This has been made clear to the ECB, who have responded positively and constructively.

The Government will continue to liaise with the cricket authorities on tackling racism and hold them to account on this.