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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support he is providing to venues hoping to run pilot sporting events with spectators in attendance as covid-19 restrictions are eased.

The Events Research Programme (ERP), working closely with local authorities and organisers, will undertake studies to get fans and audiences back safely as restrictions are gradually eased. The pilot programme will be used to provide key scientific data and research into how small and large-scale events could be permitted to safely reopen in line with the Roadmap out of lockdown as part of Step 4, commencing no earlier than 21 June. The pilots will be run across a range of settings, venue types, and activity types so that findings could support the full reopening of similar settings across multiple sectors.

The ERP delivery team is working closely with the event operators, local Directors of Public Health, local authorities and police to ensure each pilot is conducted safely. All events will be supported by highly capable safety teams and have the full support and buy-in from the relevant local authorities, police and Directors for Public Health

In terms of financial support on 19 November 2020 the Government announced a rescue package worth £300 million to help major spectator sports which have been affected by the pandemic, In the recent budget a further £300m was announced for the recovery package across all sports. The Culture Recovery Fund and Sports Recovery packages have provided close to £2.5 billion in sector specific support to date. On 26 January Sport England also published their strategy ‘Uniting the Movement’ and as part of this have committed an extra £50million to help grassroots sports clubs and organisations affected by the coronavirus pandemic.