Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of safeguarding standards and behavioural enforcement in grassroots youth football; and what steps she is taking to ensure that children participating in grassroots sport are protected from abuse, intimidation and unsafe environments.

The safety, wellbeing, and welfare of everyone participating in sport is absolutely paramount. Sport England and UK Sport (DCMS’s Arm’s Length Bodies for sport) provide support to the sport and physical activity sector around safeguarding, including funding the Ann Craft Trust and the NSPCC who provide safeguarding standards and guidance.

The Football Association (The FA), is responsible for the rules governing football, the regulation of the sport and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm. For this reason, the department does not hold data on the number safeguarding incidents in grassroots football and has not made an assessment of trends..

My department engages regularly with the FA on a variety of topics, including safeguarding. Whilst we recognise that significant work is taking place in sport on this issue, more must be done to continue to strengthen safeguarding systems across the sector.