Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what criteria a sports governing body must fulfil in order to be recognised as an official Olympic partner by the UK Government.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Recognition as an official Olympic partner is a matter for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Government does not therefore set such criteria. Decisions on which sports are on the programmes for the Olympic and Paralympic Games are matters for the IOC and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) respectively. The Deaflympics (previously called World Games for the Deaf and International Games for the Deaf) are an International Olympic Committee (IOC) sanctioned event at which deaf athletes compete at an elite level.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to cover the legal costs of UK Anti-Doping as part of the ongoing tailored review.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Tailored Review, which we are currently carrying out, is assessing all areas of UK Anti-Doping’s efficiency, effectiveness and governance and how it is preparing for the future.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made of the review of UK Anti-Doping; and when he expects the review to be complete.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Tailored Review is nearing completion and I expect it to be published in early 2018.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 ensure that sporting bodies are sufficiently well-regulated to prevent abuse within those organisations.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
As part of their funding conditions with Sport England and UK Sport, all National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) are required to have appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place as well as meeting and - where appropriate - maintaining the Standards for Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Sport (the 'Standards') which are issued by the NSPCC's Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU). This requirement also forms part of the standards set out in the Code for Sports Governance which applies to all organisations in receipt of public and/or National Lottery funding from Sport England and UK Sport.
The CPSU is Sport England's expert safeguarding partner and conducts an annual 'health check' of all NGBs, reporting back to Sport England to ensure this funding condition is being met. The Standards provide a framework for all those involved in sport to help them create a safe sporting environment for children and young people and to protect them from harm. They also seek to provide a benchmark to help those involved in sport make informed decisions, and to promote good practice and challenge practice that is harmful to children.
The Code for Sports Governance makes it clear that it is vital that sports bodies receiving money from Sport England or UK Sport have appropriate policies and processes in place to ensure good governance and transparency in their organisations. This includes ensuring that bodies meet their obligations to protect and safeguard the welfare of those participating in their sports, as well as volunteers and employees.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with which companies in the betting industry (a) she and (b) Ministers from her Department have met in the last three months, and what the purpose of each meeting was.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with the Betting industry on a range of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on gov.uk.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding reaches sporting organisations at a grassroots level.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Government's Sporting Future strategy, published in December 2015, set out that in future, all funding for grassroots sport should deliver five key outcomes; physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, social and community development, individual development and economic development.
Sport England are government's arms length body with responsibility for grassroots sport. Sport England invest lottery and exchequer funding on behalf of government to get more people from every background involved in sport and physical activity.
Sport England launched its own strategy, Towards an Active Nation in 2016. Since then it has awarded £532 million across a wide range of projects and organisations, many receiving investment for the first time. A list of Sport England’s investment programmes, with descriptions and key dates, can be found on its website at: www.sportengland.org/funding/funding-key-dates/
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport what the Government's policy is on safe standing at sporting events; and whether the Government plans to amend its policy on safe standing?
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Government believes that all-seater stadiums are the best means to ensure the safety and security of spectators at football grounds in England and Wales. All-seater stadiums have helped improve crowd management, crowd behaviour and policing. They provide better and more comfortable facilities to enjoy football matches, which has helped encourage inclusivity and diversity amongst those attending.
While we are committed to monitoring the developments at Celtic and Shrewsbury Town FC, Government is not, at present, persuaded by the case put forward to re-introduce standing accommodation in grounds covered by the all-seater requirement.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on establishing the Inter-Ministerial Group referred to in Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation, published in December 2015.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
We have established an Inter-Ministerial Group on Healthy Living which will meet shortly and brings together a range of departments to consider how sport and physical activity could be made more widely accessible, so that they benefit everyone.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with UK Anti-Doping on the adequacy of its resources.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Resourcing is part of regular discussions with all of our Arm’s Length Bodies.
In March 2017 I announced a Tailored Review of UK Anti-Doping (UKAD). The Review is considering UKAD’s efficiency, effectiveness and governance; and how it is preparing for the future. The Tailored Review will be published before the end of 2017.
Sporting Future, the government’s sport strategy, made a commitment to ensure that UKAD continues to be funded at the levels needed for it to further enhance its strong reputation and to protect its funding in real terms throughout the current Spending Review period. This is reflected in its Spending Review settlement.
The UK Government remains fully committed to combating doping in sport and protecting the integrity of sport.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 the effect of the recent FA governance reforms in addressing the lack of BAME representation in football governance.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The FA, like all sports bodies in receipt of public funding, is now required to comply with the highest standards of sports governance as set out in Sport England and UK Sport's A Code for Sports Governance. This includes having at least 30 per cent gender diversity on boards, acting in an open and transparent way and making progress on BAME representation in sports administration. All funded bodies have until the 31 October to provide evidence of how they are making progress towards meeting the requirements in the Code. Sport England and UK Sport will be reviewing this evidence, and will continue to be rigorous in their monitoring of on-going compliance.