Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with representatives of (a) the Scottish Football Association, (b) Scottish Women's Football and (c) the Scottish Women's Premier League since 1 January 2019 on the effect of Tier 4 visa regulations on football in Scotland.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Tier 4 visas have restrictions imposed regarding what work can be undertaken during the period leave. One of the conditions of holding a Tier 4 visa is that students must not engage in Professional sport.
The definitions of amateur and professional sports persons contained in the immigration rules were established following full consultation with all our Sports Governing Bodies, including the Scottish Football Association, the representative body for football in Scotland. The Home Office routinely engages with our Sports Governing Bodies and other governmental departments regarding the immigration requirements for professional sport.
The immigration system makes specific provision for professional sportspersons to come to the UK. These provisions seek to strike a balance between enabling UK sports teams to access top class international talent and protecting development opportunities for home grown sportspersons. The minimum standards for each sport are set by our Sports Governing Bodies, in agreement with the Home Office. It is right professional sportspersons below this standard should not be able to pursue such a career in the UK using our employment or study visa routes – including Tier 4.
Genuinely amateur players are already completely free to play sport on a purely amateur basis, whilst they are in the UK.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions officials in her Department have had with (a) the Scottish Football Association, (b) Scottish Women's Football and (c) the Scottish Women's Premier League on (i) the definition of sportsperson in the Tier 4 visa regulations and (ii) the effect of those regulations on participation in football in Scotland.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Tier 4 visas have restrictions imposed regarding what work can be undertaken during the period leave. One of the conditions of holding a Tier 4 visa is that students must not engage in Professional sport.
The definitions of amateur and professional sports persons contained in the immigration rules were established following full consultation with all our Sports Governing Bodies, including the Scottish Football Association, the representative body for football in Scotland. The Home Office routinely engages with our Sports Governing Bodies and other governmental departments regarding the immigration requirements for professional sport.
The immigration system makes specific provision for professional sportspersons to come to the UK. These provisions seek to strike a balance between enabling UK sports teams to access top class international talent and protecting development opportunities for home grown sportspersons. The minimum standards for each sport are set by our Sports Governing Bodies, in agreement with the Home Office. It is right professional sportspersons below this standard should not be able to pursue such a career in the UK using our employment or study visa routes – including Tier 4.
Genuinely amateur players are already completely free to play sport on a purely amateur basis, whilst they are in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are giving to women’s football.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We are determined to encourage more women and girls to get active, something we set out in our sport strategy, Sporting Future. Football is a popular choice for women and girls to get active: it is the second most popular team sport in terms of participation for adult women, and the top ranked team sport in terms of participation for girls. It is also growing in appeal for spectators with a record total audience of 28.1 million tuning in to watch the BBC coverage of last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
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 £544,500 to date to deliver The FA FIVES national promotion programme, a mass participation five a side football competition linked to EURO 2020. Its aim is to provide opportunities throughout England for men and women to take part in a fun, friendly football event.
Separately, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport invested £18m in football facilities through the Football Foundation in each of 2017, 2018 and 2019. It is not possible to separate out the investment amounts by gender.
The Government has also committed to investing £550m into grassroots football facilities, for all ages and genders, over the next 10 years to support plans to bid for the 2030 Men’s FIFA Football World Cup.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to allocate funding from the public purse to the development of women's football.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We are determined to encourage more women and girls to get active, something we set out in our sport strategy, Sporting Future. Football is a popular choice for women and girls to get active: it is the second most popular team sport in terms of participation for adult women, and the top ranked team sport in terms of participation for girls. It is also growing in appeal for spectators with a record total audience of 28.1 million tuning in to watch the BBC coverage of last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
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 £544,500 to date to deliver The FA FIVES national promotion programme, a mass participation five a side football competition linked to EURO 2020. Its aim is to provide opportunities throughout England for men and women to take part in a fun, friendly football event.
Separately, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport invested £18m in football facilities through the Football Foundation in each of 2017, 2018 and 2019. It is not possible to separate out the investment amounts by gender.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to categorise the (a) Women's Football European Championship, (b) Women's Football World Cup, (c) Women's FA Cup and (d) other competitions listed for male sportspeople as Listed Events for free to air sports viewing.
Answered by Nigel Adams
In September 2019 the government consulted on whether to add women’s equivalents of men’s events currently on the list to both group A and group B categories. The consultation closed on 11 December 2019. The government is now carefully considering the responses in detail and we will respond in due course.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department has spent on grassroots football for (a) men, (b) women and (c) in total in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Through Sport England, 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 ringfencing of funding between men's and women's programmes apart from £2.6m which is specifically reserved for women and girls talent programmes.
Separately, Government invested £18m in football facilities through the Football Foundation in each of 2017, 2018 and 2019. It is not possible to separate out the investment amounts by gender.
The Government has also committed to investing £550m into grassroots football facilities over the next 10 years to support plans to bid for the 2030 Men’s FIFA Football World Cup.
Asked by: Stephen Twigg (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to promote women's football in (a) Liverpool and (b) England.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is determined to get more girls and women playing sport, something we set out in our sport strategy, Sporting Future. Football is the second most played team sport for adult women and the top ranked team sport in terms of participation for girls.
We are investing £14.6million into the Football Association (FA) through Sport England between 2017 and 2021, to support their grassroots participation, talent and coaching programmes. £2.6million of this is specifically reserved for women and girls talent programmes, helping the FA reach its aspiration to double the number of women and girls teams. The FA also receive an additional £2m each year towards improving diversity in its coaching workforce.
Government is also investing £18million to the Football Foundation charity each year to help deliver a programme of new and improved community sports facilities in towns and cities across the country.
All public funding provided is used to benefit men’s, women’s and disability football; for example, investment in a mixed coaching programme or facility will benefit all groups within that community.
Liverpool, for example, has benefitted to the sum of £15.2millon for football programmes over the last three years from the Football Foundation, which includes a mix of public funding and investment from the FA and the Premier League. This includes the delivery of a Parklife Football Hub, which is home to women and girls clubs, recreational programmes and women’s beginner football festivals.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support women's football in (a) Kent and (b) England.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The government’s sport strategy “Sporting Future” highlighted the importance of focusing on groups that are less likely to take part in sport and physical activity, including women and girls.
Sport England, government’s arm’s length body for community sport, funds the Football Association (FA) to encourage participation in the women’s game, both in developing talented women and girls as well as supporting participation at the grassroots. For 2017-2021 Sport England awarded The FA £14.6m. This investment includes funding for programmes like ‘Grow the Game’ aimed at supporting new women’s and disability teams.
The FA has partnered with Sport England’s “This Girl Can” campaign, to encourage more women and girls to get involved with the sport across the country. In Kent, Sport England funding has helped Kent FA start the Player Development Centre which has seen many girls receive extra coaching opportunities.
Government supports the FA’s bid to host the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 finals in England which will hopefully inspire the next generation of young female players.
Asked by: Rehman Chishti (Conservative - Gillingham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to promote women's football in (a) Kent and (b) England.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The government’s sport strategy “Sporting Future” highlighted the importance of focusing on groups that are less likely to take part in sport and physical activity, including women and girls.
Sport England, government’s arm’s length body for community sport, funds the Football Association (FA) to encourage participation in the women’s game, both in developing talented women and girls as well as supporting participation at the grassroots. For 2017-2021 Sport England awarded The FA £14.6m. This investment includes funding for programmes like ‘Grow the Game’ aimed at supporting new women’s and disability teams.
The FA has partnered with Sport England’s “This Girl Can” campaign, to encourage more women and girls to get involved with the sport across the country. In Kent, Sport England funding has helped Kent FA start the Player Development Centre which has seen many girls receive extra coaching opportunities.
Government supports the FA’s bid to host the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 finals in England which will hopefully inspire the next generation of young female players.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to establish an alternative governance body than the Football Association to administer women's football in England.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
We are not considering a legislative change in the way football is run in this country. With almost 2.5 million registered players, football is now the top participation sport for women and girls in England with the FA setting out their ambition to double female participation over the next five years.
Together with Sport England, Government is working closely with the FA to maximise the returns in terms of increased participation and improving the talent pathway for women’s and girl’s football, including supporting their bid to host the 2021 European Championships.