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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take, alongside sporting bodies and associations, to tackle racism in cricket.

Racism has no place in cricket, sport, or wider society. The Government is committed to working with our arm’s-length bodies, sporting bodies and sector partners to ensure sport does all it can to tackle racism and all forms of discrimination.

We welcome the action the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is taking to tackle racism in cricket. We will continue to monitor its actions, including the implementation of the ECB’s plan for diversity and inclusion. A recent update indicates that the ECB is continuing to deliver on its commitments on improved diversity in governance, the development of an anti-discrimination unit, and its review of crowd management alongside the First Class Counties and the Sports Grounds Safety Authority. The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, established by the ECB in March 2021, is also currently in the process of reviewing the evidence to form an independent report with suggested recommendations on how to tackle discrimination and achieve equity in cricket.

Funding from our arm’s-length body for grassroot sport, Sport England, is explicitly linked to the development and implementation of robust diversity and inclusion policies and plans. This has been made clear to the ECB, which has responded positively and constructively.

We will continue to liaise with the cricket authorities on tackling racism and hold them to account on this.