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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had discussions with the Commonwealth Games Federation on promoting the (a) games in (i) Africa, (ii) Asia, (iii) the Caribbean and (iv) the Pacific and (b) sports indigenous to these regions; and if she will make a statement.

The Government is committed to promoting the benefits that staging and participating in major sporting events, such as the Commonwealth Games, can bring. The Commonwealth Games Federation is primarily responsible for the continuing role of promoting the Games and we have worked with them to do this.

Ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Games taking place in the summer of 2022, the then Minister for Sport chaired the 10th Commonwealth Sports Ministers meeting, which brought together delegates from across the Commonwealth to discuss a range of issues relating to the sport sector, including promoting the role of the Games in contributing to the broader values and aims for sport in the Commonwealth.

In addition, a £5 million development grant was made available via the Birmingham 2022 Games budget, funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Birmingham City Council, which enabled the Commonwealth Games Federation to fund a range of sport development initiatives across Commonwealth countries.