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 prevalence of Islamophobia in organised sport.

Recent reports of racism in cricket have highlighted that discrimination, including anti-Muslim hatred, is sadly too prevalent within sport. There can be no place for it. The Government expects sports bodies to take robust action to tackle discrimination whenever and wherever it occurs.

Earlier this year UK Sport, Sport England and the other UK sports councils published reports into racism and racial inequalities in sport, including a report capturing people’s lived experiences of racism in sport. The sports councils have agreed some initial overarching commitments, and are working to develop their own action plans to further deliver on these commitments.

This is in addition to steps such as the forthcoming update of UK Sport and Sport England’s Code for Sports Governance, which will place an increased focus on diversity in decision making and ensuring that sports organisations reflect the communities they serve. 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.

Getting faith groups more involved in sport and activity is also a key part of Sport England’s 10-year strategy “Uniting the Movement”, published earlier this year. Through this strategy Sport England have committed to providing opportunities to people and communities that have traditionally been left behind and helping to remove the barriers to activity.

The Government, and our sports councils, are committed to making sure sport is inclusive for everyone. Where action taken by sports does not go far enough, the government is prepared to step in.