Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many members of (a) Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service and (b) the armed forces attended the Clash on the Dunes boxing event in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia on 7 December 2019; and who paid for the (a) tickets and (b) hospitality of those personnel at that event.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
A number of staff from the British Embassy and the armed forces attended the boxing match on 7 December 2019. No public money was spent. The Ambassador and a small number of others were hosted at the event by Saudi Arabia. A small number of tickets were also provided by Saudi Arabia's General Sports Authority and Anthony Joshua's team. Other staff purchased tickets privately.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much additional funding was allocated to flood-hit areas in the UK in the six months following the 2015 Boxing Day floods.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Following Storms Desmond and Eva, the Government quickly identified that the immediate priority was to respond to the urgent needs of those affected and government paid out almost £300 million to help householders, communities and businesses to get back on their feet. Furthermore, government supported repairs to vital transport links, including getting the A591 in Cumbria open ahead of schedule, as well as improving flood defences and providing match funding for charity appeals.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the press release of 1 April 2019 entitled Government to harness power of sport to tackle youth violence, what commitment the Government has received from (a) the Premier League on increasing participating in the Premier League Kicks campaign; and how many more children will participate in that scheme, (b) Sport England on increasing participation in crime hotspots; and how many more children will participate in such schemes and (c) sports’ organisations including basketball, boxing and cycling and community-based sports charities on engaging young people in hard to reach areas.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Following the Prime Minister's summit on serious violence in April this year, government has been working with the Premier League, Sport England, National Governing Bodies and other organisations in the sport and physical activity sector to explore what more can be done to use sport and physical activity to tackle serious violence, including knife crime.
Using Sport England insight and Home Office hot spot data, action will be targeted at the areas that need it most. Detail is still being developed and further information will follow over the summer.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release of 22 February 2019 entitled £9.8 million fund to confront knife and gang crime culture, how many families in each project area have been assisted by the fund; and what support they have received.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Troubled Families Programme is a £920 million programme to help up to 400,000 families with multiple and complex needs, including those at risk of becoming involved in crime and serious violence. The Supporting Families Against Youth Crime Fund has provided a further £9.8 million to help 21 places further enhance how their local Troubled Families Programme helps tackle youth violence and gangs. Each of the projects are designed to respond directly to the needs of their community and so the support provided to families varies in each local area. They include diversionary activities such as boxing and residential courses, resilience building, out of hours mentors, conflict resolution and whole family counselling. Local areas awarded funding will provide monitoring data later this year.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of changes in the number of women participating in female boxing since that sport was introduced into the Olympic programme in 2012.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The figures for women who report having taken part in boxing since 2015 are detailed in the table below (data from the Active Lives Survey). I welcome the growth in women taking part in the sport, we are determined to get more girls and women playing sport, something we set out in our sport strategy, Sporting Future.
The predecessor to the Active Lives Survey, the Active People Survey, collected data from October 2005 to September 2016 - data is available online: https://www.sportengland.org/research/about-our-research/active-people-survey/. Owing to the different methodologies employed, the data sets from the two surveys are not directly comparable.
| Nov 15/16 | May 16/17 | Nov 16/17 | May 17/18 |
Boxing (includes boxing fitness classes) | ||||
Number | 356,500 | 380,200 | 401,400 | 410,400 |
Boxing (traditional) | ||||
Number | 119,900 | 109,900 | 121,700 | 122,900 |
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support his Department has provided for kickboxing in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government does not collect data on the number of people who participate in kickboxing as part of Sport England’s Active Lives Adult or Children Surveys as it is not a sport that is recognised by the Home Countries Sports Councils.
The Active Lives Adult and Children Surveys provide data on the number of people who have participated in sport and physical activity over the past 12 months. The government does not maintain an estimate of the number of people that are expected to participate in kickboxing in future years. Further details of which sports are covered by the Active Lives Adult and Children’s Surveys can be found in the respective Technical Reports here: https://www.sportengland.org/media/12455/technical-summary-may-16-17-report.pdf and https://www.sportengland.org/media/13670/active-lives-cyp-technical-note-2017-18.pdf
Sport England has not provided any direct funding to kickboxing projects in the past, however, it has previously provided funding to multi-sport projects which may have included a kick-boxing component.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made for the number of people expected to participate in kickboxing in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government does not collect data on the number of people who participate in kickboxing as part of Sport England’s Active Lives Adult or Children Surveys as it is not a sport that is recognised by the Home Countries Sports Councils.
The Active Lives Adult and Children Surveys provide data on the number of people who have participated in sport and physical activity over the past 12 months. The government does not maintain an estimate of the number of people that are expected to participate in kickboxing in future years. Further details of which sports are covered by the Active Lives Adult and Children’s Surveys can be found in the respective Technical Reports here: https://www.sportengland.org/media/12455/technical-summary-may-16-17-report.pdf and https://www.sportengland.org/media/13670/active-lives-cyp-technical-note-2017-18.pdf
Sport England has not provided any direct funding to kickboxing projects in the past, however, it has previously provided funding to multi-sport projects which may have included a kick-boxing component.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he provide an estimate of the number of people who participated in kickboxing in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government does not collect data on the number of people who participate in kickboxing as part of Sport England’s Active Lives Adult or Children Surveys as it is not a sport that is recognised by the Home Countries Sports Councils.
The Active Lives Adult and Children Surveys provide data on the number of people who have participated in sport and physical activity over the past 12 months. The government does not maintain an estimate of the number of people that are expected to participate in kickboxing in future years. Further details of which sports are covered by the Active Lives Adult and Children’s Surveys can be found in the respective Technical Reports here: https://www.sportengland.org/media/12455/technical-summary-may-16-17-report.pdf and https://www.sportengland.org/media/13670/active-lives-cyp-technical-note-2017-18.pdf
Sport England has not provided any direct funding to kickboxing projects in the past, however, it has previously provided funding to multi-sport projects which may have included a kick-boxing component.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the International Olympic Committee on the introduction of kickboxing into the Olympics.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have had no such discussions. Decisions on which sports are to be included at the Olympic Games are matters for the International Olympic Committee.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on patient health of regular instances of concussion.
Answered by Steve Brine
Repeated concussions or blows to the head have been linked to serious problems, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a type of dementia and is particularly associated with contact sports, such as boxing or American football.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides the guidance on ‘head injury: assessment and early management’, last updated in June 2017. This provides information on minor brain injuries (concussion), as well and the early management of head injuries and information for the public.
Advice and further information on concussion and CTE can be found via the NICE and NHS websites at the following links:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg176
www.nhs.uk/conditions/concussion/
www.nhs.uk/conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/