Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how the terms of reference for the Future of Women’s Football review were decided.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The themes of the Future of Women’s Football Review explore a range of opportunities within the women’s game. These were developed and informed by the findings of the Fan Led Review, conversations with industry experts, and in consultation with the Review Chair.
Women’s football has developed at pace in recent years, and the success of the Lionesses at the Euros highlighted that. As we celebrate that success, we must ensure that we use these foundations to secure a long lasting and sustainable future for the women’s game.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason the Government decided not to have a bank holiday in the event that the England Women's National Football Team won the 2022 UEFA Women's Euro Championship.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government is extremely proud of the England Women's National Football Team and their success in winning the 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro Championship.
The current pattern of public and bank holidays is well established, and while an additional bank holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the overall cost to the economy is considerable. The latest analysis estimates the cost to the UK economy for a one-off bank holiday to be around £2bn.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to provide more pitches and facilities for women's football teams.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Each year, the government invests £18 million into community sport facilities via the Football Foundation, alongside the English Football Association and the Premier League. A further £21 million was invested in England in 2021/22, supporting a range of projects to deliver improved facilities in deprived areas, support multi-sport use and increase participation among currently under-represented groups including women and girls and disabled players. The Government has committed another £205 million between 2022 and 2025, with plans for this investment due to be announced in the Autumn.
We are working with the FA to build on the momentum created by the Women's Euros to ensure there is a legacy of growth in women and girls, including 500,000 new football opportunities to engage women and girls across the nine host cities by 2024, and 20,000 more women playing for fun across the country. To raise the profile of facilities in the UK, and to commemorate the Lionesses, the Football Foundation is working with facility owners to name pitches/facilities in towns and cities that have a strong link to each tournament winning squad member.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will provide a list of (a) professional staff networks and (b) social clubs operating within his Department; and if she will provide the (i) budgets and (ii) FTE staff time allocated to each group within each of the last three years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
(a) DCMS has the following staff networks:
Ability Network (Beyond Disability)
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network
Carers Network
Direct Appointee Network
EU Nationals Network
Faith and Belief Network
Fair Treatment Ambassadors
Flexible Working and Job Share Network
Gender Equality Network
Grade B Network (HEO / SEO Grade equivalent)
Grade C&D Network (AO & EO Grade equivalent)
Green Network
Ideas Panel Network
LGBT+ Network
Mental Health and Wellbeing Network
New Joiner Network
North Network
Parenting Network Group
Social Mobility Network
South West Network
Volunteering Network
(b) The Sports and Social Network is a Network for all staff to access and organise sport and social activity in DCMS. The social clubs that currently operate within this network include:
Choir
Football teams:
London Men’s team
London Women's team
Manchester team
Netball
Film Club
Book Club
Bake Club
Board Games
Meditation Club
(i) Budgets allocated to each group within each of the last three years
The annual budget allocated to all network activity is £10,000. This has been the same for the past three years. Networks are able to access funding on a case by case basis for events or training.
(ii) FTE staff time allocated to each group within each of the last three years
FTE staff are not allocated to networks, the role of network chair is a voluntary role and as such the time they allocate to each network is not recorded or reported upon. As part of the DCMS ‘business deal’ for network chairs, in agreement with line management and subject to business need, 10% of the network chair’s working hours can be allocated to network activity increasing to up to 20% in periods of high demand.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of recommendation 45 in the Fan-Led Review of Football Governance on a review of women's football; and whether she has plans to implement that recommendation.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government welcomes the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance and has endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.
The Government will now work at pace to review the report in full, including the recommendations made on a dedicated review of women’s football.
The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assistance she will provide to enable the Afghanistan Girls National Football Team to travel to Australia safely to partake in football matches.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is supporting the Afghanistan Girls National Football Team to travel to the UK from Pakistan. The Government is committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan and continues to do all it can to ensure safe passage for those who wish to leave. We will continue to work with the international community to use our influence to secure women's and girls' rights to participate in public life.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason women's football was classified as a non-elite sport during the recent covid-19 lockdowns; and if he will review that classification in the event of a future lockdown.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is up to the respective governing bodies to determine what constitutes the boundary between elite and non-elite within their sports. Government regulations relating to arrangements for sport during the COVID-19 pandemic do not distinguish between men’s and women’s sport.
We are absolutely committed to women’s sport. I meet regularly with the Football Association to discuss a range of issues, and we continue to liaise closely with them on women’s football.
It is also worth noting that in February we announced £2.25 million support for Women’s Super League and the FA Women’s Championship, alongside a further announcement in March for £680,000 in grant funding for six women’s football clubs.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions his Department has had with Ministerial colleagues of the Department for Education on plans to provide support to help increase participation in girl's football in primary schools.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity are crucial for our mental and physical health. The Chief Medical Officer is clear that being physically active is important to long-term health and crucial for keeping people healthy. That’s why we have continued to make sure that people can exercise throughout the national restrictions, and why we have ensured that grassroots and children’s sport was at the front of the queue when easing those restrictions.
My department works closely with the Department for Education on school sport provision. Schools are free to organise and deliver a flexible, diverse and challenging Physical Education curriculum that suits the needs of all their pupils, which can include football for girls.
The Secretary of State for Education and the Culture Secretary jointly hosted a school sport roundtable in March where the English FA were represented. This roundtable launched our ongoing work to bring together a sports sector offer to support schools through an active summer recovery term, and on into the summer holidays, in order to get children and young people active again.
Minister Gibb and I also recently met with Baroness Sue Campbell, Director of Women's Football at the FA, to discuss PE and school sport including the work that Baroness Campbell is doing to increase the numbers of girls playing football in schools.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of the Football Association on classing women's academy football as an elite sport.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are absolutely committed to women’s sport. I recently met with the Football Association about to discuss a range of issues, and we continue to liaise closely with them on women’s football.
It is up to the respective governing bodies to determine what constitutes the boundary between elite and non-elite within their sports and the classification of such competitions.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to allocate specific funding from the public purse to female grassroots football teams.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
I am committed to encouraging more women and girls to get active and helping women’s sport come out of the current crisis stronger than ever. Over the last year I have met with a range of sports organisations to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on women’s sport and how together we can address these challenges going forward. I have made clear in these discussions that I expect women’s sport to be protected through the pandemic and prioritised as we emerge on the other side.
Through our national sports council, Sport England, the government is investing £24.6m in The Football Association over the course of 2016-21 for its work on grassroots participation, the football talent pathway, and coaching programmes. Within this, there is no specific ring-fencing of funding between men's and women's programmes, apart from £2.6m which is specifically reserved for women and girls talent programmes.
Sport England has also awarded The FA £1m to date to deliver The FA FIVES national promotion programme, a mass participation five a side football competition linked to EURO 2021 & EURO 2022. Its aim is to provide opportunities throughout England for men and women to take part in a fun, friendly football event. In addition, they have awarded £987,000 towards the Women’s Euro 2022 Host City Legacy Impact intended to increase activity levels in football amongst women aged 16+.
Sport England has also provided £220m directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic, via a range of funds including their £35m Community Emergency Fund. £2.25m of this funding has been awarded to the FA to support a safe restart of football. This funding will prioritise groups most impacted by Covid-19, including Women’s National League. This sector support was recently boosted by an extra £50m to help grassroots sports clubs and organisations as part of Sport England’s new strategy Uniting the Movement.
On 19 February, it was announced that women’s sport would also receive multi-million pound support through the Sport Winter Survival Package including £2.25m for the Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship.