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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the prevalence of degenerative brain conditions in former rugby union players.

The safety, wellbeing, and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is paramount. My department is committed to working alongside the Department for Health and Social Care on issues relating to head injuries in sport, and have ongoing official level engagement on this issue.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has worked with sporting bodies and others to develop a single set of shared concussion guidelines for grassroots sport across the UK, which were published on 28 April 2023. We continue to encourage sports governing bodies to adapt the guidelines to their own sport where appropriate.

Further research on the links between health, dementia and contact sport is needed to better understand the issue. My department has established a new Sports Concussion Research Forum to identify key research questions that need answering in this important area.