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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the post-sport employment rates of people who have participated in elite athlete programmes funded by UK Sport.

We do not collect data on post-sport employment rates, but UK Sport takes its duty of care to athletes very seriously. Their package of support includes Performance Lifestyle Advisers from the English Institute for Sport, supporting athletes to prepare for life after elite sport; the Athlete Futures Network open to any current or former World Class Programme athlete hosting roadshows that include workshops, career skills development, and exploration of future employment opportunities; and the EIS #More2Me campaign, launched in Feb 2019, to encourage elite athletes to consider their lives’ outside of and beyond sport, whilst they are still competing.

As I stated in my speech on 13th February to UK Sport, It is important that we support our athletes not just when they are competing, but as they move into retirement and start thinking about the next stage of their lives.