Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of racial abuse directed at Premier League footballers on social media and whether it is increasing or decreasing; and what steps they are taking to ensure repercussions for such behaviour.

Although the government does not hold this specific information centrally, we remain extremely concerned by online racism and will continue working with the sports sector to tackle this.

The Online Safety Act offers better protections for public figures online. Public order offences including harassment are priority offences under the Act, requiring companies to proactively search for, remove and limit people’s exposure to such content and activity. The Act also introduced a threatening communications offence, capturing communications conveying a serious threat of harm or death, with a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, a fine, or both.