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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage sport stadiums across the UK to meet the recommendations of Sport England and the International Olympic Committee on the number of wheelchair spaces available for disabled people.

The Government is committed to ensuring all spectators have appropriate access to sporting venues and services, and that professional sports clubs are aware of their responsibilities towards disabled spectators.

Sport England’s Accessible Sports Facilities guide provides guidance on access to sports facilities for disabled sports participants. The International Paralympic Committee’s guidance is there for clubs that want, and can afford, to meet the highest standards on inclusion and accessibility for both participants and spectators.

The Accessible Stadia guidance produced by the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) brings together the background information central to designing and providing for disabled spectators at stadia and helps all clubs to meet the basic standard in the first instance.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is working with the Department of Work and Pensions, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and the disabled spectators charity Level Playing Field on a range of measures to ensure that the rights of all disabled spectators, not only wheelchair users, are met by owners of sports stadia. As part of this work, the SGSA will be issuing an updated pamphlet to accompany the Accessible Stadia guidance, which will detail the current legal framework which all service providers must comply with and including advice on how clubs can improve access across a range of different disabilities.