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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on the role of (a) Government and (b) professional football governing bodies in examining the potential link between football and risk of dementia.

The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. 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 serious injuries. With that in mind, we expect sports to do all they can to protect their players.

It is clear that further examination of the links between health, dementia and football is needed to better understand this issue. I welcome the Professional Footballers' Association’s recent move to set up a dedicated task force to further investigate the issue of brain injury diseases in football.