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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to continue the Future of Cricket Fund.

The Government has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to support the growth of cricket through its recent announcement of funding for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB, the national governing body for cricket) to build two new indoor cricket domes in Farington (near Preston) and Luton. The Future of Cricket ‘Fund’ was an announcement made by the previous Government, which was entirely unfunded.

This funding for cricket centres is in addition the £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation which was announced following the Spending Review.

We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans. I met with the ECB, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.

This includes long term investment to the ECB which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives.