Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that (a) children, (b) young people and (c) vulnerable adults are safeguarded while participating in (i) regulated and (ii) unregulated (A) grassroots sports, (B) civil society groups and (C) religious groups.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone is vitally important. In sport, National Governing Bodies are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, including through adherence to statutory safeguarding guidance. Our Arm’s Length Body Sport England funds the Child Protection in Sport Unit and Ann Craft Trust to provide guidance and support for the sector regarding safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.
For civil society groups, The Charity Commission provides clear guidance on the safeguarding responsibilities of registered charities, and the Government works in partnership with charities and regulators to raise awareness about safeguarding.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) also provides guidance to all voluntary organisations, including religious groups, on their legal safeguarding responsibilities when working with children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Independent Football Regulator on (a) the regulation of away ticket prices and (b) the potential impacts of regulating away ticket pricing.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Football ticket price limits are commercial decisions and a matter for football clubs.
The Independent Football Regulator will consider the pertinent factors to club sustainability as part of its first State of the Game report. This report must be completed within 18 months of the Secretary of State laying secondary legislation specificing the competitions in scope of the regime.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of ticket price limits on the sustainability of football in England.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Football ticket price limits are commercial decisions and a matter for football clubs.
The Independent Football Regulator will consider the pertinent factors to club sustainability as part of its first State of the Game report. This report must be completed within 18 months of the Secretary of State laying secondary legislation specificing the competitions in scope of the regime.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the differences are between the (a) Women’s Sport Taskforce, announced in 2025 and (b) the National Physical Activity Taskforce, established in 2023.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Women’s Sport Taskforce convenes a group of industry experts which aim to understand opportunities and break down barriers to deliver equal access, best in class facilities, ongoing professionalisation of women’s sport, visible role models to inspire future generations of girls and a strong pipeline of UK hosted major events by the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The National Physical Activity Taskforce (NPAT) was established in 2023 under a previous government to monitor the delivery of the sport strategy Get Active, which went beyond women’s sport in its focus. This group has now closed.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to continue the Future of Cricket Fund.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to support the growth of cricket through its recent announcement of funding for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB, the national governing body for cricket) to build two new indoor cricket domes in Farington (near Preston) and Luton. The Future of Cricket ‘Fund’ was an announcement made by the previous Government, which was entirely unfunded.
This funding for cricket centres is in addition the £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation which was announced following the Spending Review.
We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans. I met with the ECB, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.
This includes long term investment to the ECB which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the funding announced for her Department in the Spending Review 2025 is (a) new funding and (b) was funding allocated to the Department by the previous Government.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Spending Review 2025 (SR25) formally set all Departmental budgets for the upcoming SR period, no budgets had been formally set before for this period. As such, all SR25 funding was agreed by the current government.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) a National Lido Strategy and (b) a National Lido Fund.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has made no assessment on the potential merits of a National Lido Strategy or a National Lido Fund. The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to and benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Sports facilities, such as swimming pools and lidos, provide important community hubs for people of all ages to be active and connect people to the places in which they live.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, and the Government continues to encourage local authorities to invest in leisure facilities. We are committed to supporting Local Government, recognising the significant financial challenges faced by the sector and by ensuring that funding goes to the places that need it most through the Local Government Finance Settlement.
We will continue to engage with Swim England, ukactive, and other key stakeholders to explore how we can work towards securing a vibrant future for swimming pools and lidos, enabling them to continue delivering their full potential for public health, economic growth, and the wellbeing of our communities. Last month, the Culture Secretary announced that following the Spending Review, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to invest in grassroots cricket.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.
This already includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, the National Governing Body for cricket, which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives.
The Government also announced another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation following the Spending Review. We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans. I met with the England and Wales Cricket Board, among other sports, to discuss this last week.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the growth in unregulated large-scale prize draws on National Lottery ticket sales.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Prize draws are a significant and growing market. We want people who participate in prize draws to be confident that proportionate protections are in place.
We will be introducing a Voluntary Code for prize draw operators later this year. This Code will provide a uniform approach across the sector to strengthen player protections, increase transparency and improve accountability.
This approach allows us to take swift action collectively with the sector. The success of this code will dictate whether this Government decides that greater regulation may be required, including legislation.
Further information on this can be found in a Written Ministerial Statement published on Thursday 26 June 2025.
The independent research into the prize draws sector was published on 26 June 2026 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-report-online-prize-draws-and-competitions-market-study-assessment-of-harm-and-review-of-potential-interventions). The research gathered views from lottery stakeholders on the perceived impact of the prize draw market on the lotteries sector, including the National Lottery, but did not make a full assessment of this impact.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish a timetable for consulting on the regulation of large-scale prize draws.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Prize draws are a significant and growing market. We want people who participate in prize draws to be confident that proportionate protections are in place.
We will be introducing a Voluntary Code for prize draw operators later this year. This Code will provide a uniform approach across the sector to strengthen player protections, increase transparency and improve accountability.
This approach allows us to take swift action collectively with the sector. The success of this code will dictate whether this Government decides that greater regulation may be required, including legislation.
Further information on this can be found in a Written Ministerial Statement published on Thursday 26 June 2025.
The independent research into the prize draws sector was published on 26 June 2026 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-report-online-prize-draws-and-competitions-market-study-assessment-of-harm-and-review-of-potential-interventions). The research gathered views from lottery stakeholders on the perceived impact of the prize draw market on the lotteries sector, including the National Lottery, but did not make a full assessment of this impact.