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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the provision of cricket clubs across local communities.

The Government has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to supporting grassroots cricket through its recent announcement of funding for the England and Wales Cricket Board to build two new indoor cricket domes in Farington and Luton.

This funding for cricket domes is in addition to the £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation which was announced following the spending review. As part of this funding, 40% of projects across the UK will be required to benefit a sport other than football, including cricket, basketball and rugby league. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.

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.