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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to support LGBTQ+ inclusion in British sport.

The government is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion, which is at the heart of our strategy ‘Sporting Future’. Our aim is to help the sport sector be more inclusive and welcoming to its spectators, participants and workforce, including LGBTQ+ people.

Sport England, our arm’s length body for grassroots sport in England, launched their new ten year strategy Uniting the Movement (UoM) in January 2021. As part of that, they held a number of focus groups and interviews to ensure LGBTQ+ people are given as many opportunities and as much support to get active as people with other protected characteristics. These efforts include a combination of research, insight, and funding for specific LGBTQ+ projects and organisations. The Sport England’s Active Lives Survey also captures data on LGBTQ+ people’s physical activity levels biannually.

Additionally, as part of the forthcoming update for the Code of Sport Governance, sports receiving the most funding will be required to agree a diversity and inclusion action plan with Sport England and UK Sport, which will be published and updated annually. This will further support LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport across the nation.

We will continue to work closely with our arm’s length bodies, sports national governing bodies, and sector partners, to ensure inclusion for LGBTQ+ people is present at grassroots sport all the way through to elite sport.