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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of bullying in cricket in England.

The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount.

National Governing Bodies (NGBs) such as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm. With that in mind, we expect sports to do all they can to protect their athletes.

Where allegations about inappropriate or harmful behaviour such as bullying are made, these must be taken seriously. There is no place for abuse of any kind in sport and anyone responsible for such behaviour must be held accountable.

All NGBs and sporting organisations in receipt of public money must abide by the requirements of the Code for Sports Governance - including the ECB. The code is clear that sports need to ensure that their systems to deal with grievances and disputes are transparent and robust. We remain committed to working with the sports sector to help ensure the safety of all participants in sport​.