Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is restructuring loans issued under the (a) Culture Recovery Fund, (b) Sport Survival Package and (c) Rugby Football League Loan Scheme.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) assesses any loan reprofiling requests on a case by case basis, working alongside our Loan Agents, who continuously monitor the financial performance of borrowers. Requests will be considered where borrowers demonstrate evidence of need and have exhausted other funding routes. The Department has reprofiled individual loans of fewer than five borrowers (<5%) under the Culture Recovery Fund, Sport Survival Package and Rugby Football League Loan Scheme.
DCMS is not able to comment on specific cases.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much and what proportion of loans provided to rugby union clubs under government support schemes have been repaid; and if she will provide a breakdown of repayments by club.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and our arm’s-length bodies, Sport England and UK Sport, do not provide direct funding to professional rugby union clubs.
Since 2020, DCMS has provided loans to rugby union clubs via the Sport Survival Package (SSP). This package of emergency funding was provided to support organisations who were negatively impacted by Covid-19 restrictions to fulfil their sporting commitments, including Premiership Rugby League and RFU Championship clubs.
SSP loans were distributed to 13 Premiership rugby clubs (total value of £123.81 million) and seven Championship clubs (total value of £4.84 million).
DCMS is not able to comment on repayments of individual borrowers or leagues given the commercial sensitivity.
As well as loans, DCMS provides the majority of support for grassroots rugby through Sport England. Sport England has awarded the Rugby Football Union, the governing body for rugby union in England, £13.86 million for the period 2022-27 as one of Sport England’s long-term system partners to support grassroots rugby union.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much (a) funding and (b) loans her Department has provided to professional rugby union clubs since 2020.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and our arm’s-length bodies, Sport England and UK Sport, do not provide direct funding to professional rugby union clubs.
Since 2020, DCMS has provided loans to rugby union clubs via the Sport Survival Package (SSP). This package of emergency funding was provided to support organisations who were negatively impacted by Covid-19 restrictions to fulfil their sporting commitments, including Premiership Rugby League and RFU Championship clubs.
SSP loans were distributed to 13 Premiership rugby clubs (total value of £123.81 million) and seven Championship clubs (total value of £4.84 million).
DCMS is not able to comment on repayments of individual borrowers or leagues given the commercial sensitivity.
As well as loans, DCMS provides the majority of support for grassroots rugby through Sport England. Sport England has awarded the Rugby Football Union, the governing body for rugby union in England, £13.86 million for the period 2022-27 as one of Sport England’s long-term system partners to support grassroots rugby union.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
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 promote participation in Rugby Union amongst (a) girls and (b) young women.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Everyone should have the opportunity to play sport and do regular physical activity. Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport, setting them up for a lifetime of physical activity. The expert-led review of the curriculum will ensure that no child misses out on a broad range of subjects, including PE and sport. This Government is also committed to supporting every aspect of women’s and girls’ sport, including rugby union and rugby league.
Rugby Union and Rugby League are sports that are delivered through the Government-funded School Games programme, which provides children across the country with the opportunity to take part in local and accessible sport and physical activity.
We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s-length body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million of National Lottery and Exchequer money. The Rugby Football League (RFL) and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) receive £11.9 million and £13.8 million funding from Sport England respectively across up to five years to help deliver strategic objectives, including tackling inequalities and improving access to sport.
The women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025 will provide an opportunity to use the tournament as a springboard for women’s rugby. The RFU’s Impact 25 programme has been developed to create more opportunities for women and girls in all aspects of women’s rugby.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
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 increase participation in rugby (a) union and (b) league amongst school children.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Everyone should have the opportunity to play sport and do regular physical activity. Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport, setting them up for a lifetime of physical activity. The expert-led review of the curriculum will ensure that no child misses out on a broad range of subjects, including PE and sport. This Government is also committed to supporting every aspect of women’s and girls’ sport, including rugby union and rugby league.
Rugby Union and Rugby League are sports that are delivered through the Government-funded School Games programme, which provides children across the country with the opportunity to take part in local and accessible sport and physical activity.
We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s-length body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million of National Lottery and Exchequer money. The Rugby Football League (RFL) and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) receive £11.9 million and £13.8 million funding from Sport England respectively across up to five years to help deliver strategic objectives, including tackling inequalities and improving access to sport.
The women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025 will provide an opportunity to use the tournament as a springboard for women’s rugby. The RFU’s Impact 25 programme has been developed to create more opportunities for women and girls in all aspects of women’s rugby.
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been allocated to (a) football, (b) rugby union, (c) rugby league, (d) cricket, (e) basketball and (f) netball facilities through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme since 2021.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is acting to support more people in getting onto the pitch wherever they live via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, which is investing £123 million UK-wide throughout 2024/25. This will ensure that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Programme’s aim is to provide a multi-sport benefit with up to 40% of funded projects supporting at least one other sport on a sustainable and regular basis. Our delivery partner for the programme in England, the Football Foundation, works closely with Sport England and the respective National Governing Bodies of other sports to encourage development of multi-sport projects and promote collaboration between clubs at local level. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, our delivery partners are the Scottish Football Association, Cymru Football Foundation and Irish Football Association, who each work with applicants to ensure that there is a multi-sport offering in various projects.
Between 2021 and 2024, Sport England and delivery partners in other parts of the UK invested £204 million into Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities, providing new and upgraded pitches and facilities.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding her Department provides to support the growth of grassroots rugby league.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Since 2019, Sport England has provided over £34 million of support to programmes which facilitate participation in grassroots rugby league.
The Rugby Football Union (RFL) is the National Governing Body for rugby league and receives £11 million of funding from Sport England across up to five years to help deliver strategic objectives, including tackling inequalities and improving access to sport.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to encourage (a) the Football Association and (b) other English national sport associations to organise games outside of London.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Decisions relating to the staging of fixtures are a matter for national governing bodies of sports. However, we welcome the success that the FA, the ECB, the RFU, England Netball and other national governing bodies have enjoyed in hosting representative fixtures across the country.
The government continues to work with UK Sport and prospective event partners on the bidding, planning and delivery of major sporting events. As outlined in the DCMS and UK Sport guidance, the ‘Gold Framework’, revised in 2023, this includes ensuring that hosting and therefore the benefits felt by communities are spread across the country. We have demonstrated this in recent events, such as the UEFA Women’s European Championships 2022, spread across 10 cities, and the Rugby League World Cup matches in the same year across 18 towns and cities, including Newcastle, and mainly hosted in the north of the country. In our pipeline of events, the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup covers England, with the opening match in Sunderland. Our successful bid for the UEFA Men’s European Championships 2028 means that matches are set to take place across the UK and Ireland.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 (a) promote the playing of rugby and (b) support the (i) maintenance and (ii) development of (A) rugby clubs and (B) their infrastructure in (1) England and (2) Romford constituency.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority and we recognise the role of high quality accessible facilities in encouraging people to take part in sport and ensuring participation rates continue to grow. Our new strategy ‘Get Active’ sets out our ambition to build a more active nation, with a target to get 3.5 million more people classed as ‘active’ by 2030 including 1 million more children.
We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s length body, Sport England - which receives £323 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year. Sport England has invested £622,606 in the Romford constituency since 2020.
Since 2021, Sport England has provided over £22.6 million of support to programmes which facilitate participation in grassroots rugby league. This includes funding to the Rugby Football League.
In partnership with the National Lottery, Sport England has also supported the ‘CreatedBy’ capital grants programme. This delivered £26.4 million in legacy funding to celebrate England’s hosting of the 2022 Rugby League World Cup, providing investment in facilities and equipment to encourage participation.
Since 2020, Sport England has provided over £14 million of support to programmes which facilitate participation in grassroots rugby union. Additionally, in 2020/21 the Government provided £21,565,000 to rugby union clubs through the COVID-19 Sport Winter Survival Package. In 2022/23 we provided over £12.5 million of system partner funding to the Rugby Football Union to grow and develop the sport between the years 2022 and 2027.
The Government also funds some projects which benefit rugby through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme. Between 2021 and 2025, the UK Government is investing over £325 million to build or upgrade multi-sport grassroots facilities across the UK to ensure every community has the pitches and facilities it needs. Romford has received £10,491 for three projects through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the future sustainability of Rugby League.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Government has set out its ambitions for supporting the long-term sustainable growth of the sport sector in the new sport strategy, Get Active.
This includes supporting sports like Rugby League to access additional, alternative forms of investment to help the sector to continue to grow and thrive, and by highlighting best practice, good governance mechanisms, and opportunities offered by technology and innovation. This will allow sport to thrive for future generations, and support the continuation of our sporting institutions.