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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to increase the diversity of leadership of national and international sports bodies, as announced by UK Sport on 24 June 2021; and what changes have been achieved to the membership of each governing body of sport that is in receipt of national lottery or Treasury financing since that date.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport recognises the importance of diverse leadership and works closely with our partners in the sector including our arm’s-length bodies Sport England and UK Sport, national governing bodies, and sporting organisations to tackle inequalities and prioritise diversity and inclusion at all levels of sport.

The Code for Sports Governance sets out the standards all sporting organisations must meet in return for public funding from either UK Sport or Sport England. The updated code has proved successful in setting clear expectations about good governance and diversity.

The Code has had a clear impact for funded bodies in driving greater diversity on their boards, helping female representation on the boards of partners complying with the Code rise to 44% since its introduction in 2021.

Numbers have also risen in relation to representation from people from Black, Asian and other ethnically diverse backgrounds, and from those with a declared disability, increasing respectively to 13% (from 4% in 2015) and 13% (from 3% in 2015), reflecting the progress and desire of the sector to make change.

Board composition and the wider governance of international federations is a matter for the individual organisations.