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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to extend the City of Football scheme following the two-year pilot in Nottingham.

Sport England devised and funded the City of Football pilot project. Over the two years of the project (2014-2016), Sport England reported the very positive effect it had on the city of Nottingham. The objective to encourage more people from all backgrounds to play football was achieved with 55% of participants coming from the target audience of 14-25 years, 38% from black and ethnic minorities and 22% from our disabled community. Overall there was greater parity between male and female participants.

Sport England also saw community based organisations get closer to the planning and decision making process of how football can be delivered, and highlighted the important contribution of new industries involvement in the delivery of sport and physical activity. This included organisations from the world of gaming and performing arts. Further information and a final report is available on the City of Football website at http://www.city-of-football.uk

Sport England have taken lessons learned from the pilot to help inform the selection of their new Local Delivery Pilots https://www.sportengland.org/our-work/local-delivery/investing-in-local-areas/ and to introduce certain conditions to the Football Association’s 2017-21 Award for grassroots football development.

Sport England has no plans to extend the project. It was part of a wider programme of investment into existing activity to develop the grassroots game, including funding new facilities, running community programmes and working with partners such as the Football Association, Premier League and the Football Foundation.