Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
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 help tackle (a) sexism, (b) misogyny and (c) abuse in football.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
There is no place for sexism, misogyny or abuse of any kind in sport, including football, and it is vital that football authorities continue to work together to tackle it.The Government welcomes the ongoing work of the relevant football leagues, the FA, and organisations such as Women in Football and Kick it Out in challenging discrimination and breaking down inequalities between the sexes.
Following a bombardment of abuse directed towards female sports broadcasters, footballers and other athletes on social media, I wrote to X and Meta to understand whether they are aware of any abuse towards women in sport on their services which violates their policies, and, if so, what action they have been taking to address it. Both X and Meta have now responded to my letter setting out the action they are taking including enforcement, reporting processes and safety settings.
We continue to liaise closely with all the police and football authorities about their work to tackle discrimination. This includes actions targeted at and around football grounds, such as improving reporting systems, providing better training and support for referees and stewards, and improving the quality of CCTV around stadia.
Fans can also be charged with a Football Banning Order and fined if found to use derogatory language at football games, with the possibility of more severe sentences if it has been recorded as a hate crime. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been working with the FA, Premier League and English Football League to determine what evidence is required to charge an incident as a hate crime.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unique visits have been recorded at the Enough campaign website; and how many and what proportion of these visits were (a) organic and (b) paid for in each month for which records are available since that website's launch.
Answered by Sarah Dines
‘Enough’ is the UK Government's landmark campaign to tackle violence against women and girls. It is one of the key commitments in the government’s Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy and uses a range of communications channels to help deliver a generational shift in attitudes and behaviours.
The campaign comprises three strands:
‘Enough’ was developed in close consultation with over 40 organisations and academics working on this issue. Results from the first phase of campaign activity demonstrated strong progress towards achieving the campaign’s ambitions. A significant number of campaign recognisers said they took action as a result of seeing the campaign, and the campaign is deepening people’s understanding of what constitutes abuse and how to take action safely if they witness VAWG. The campaign website has driven over 2,000 interactions with support services and assisted people to report abuse to the police.
The campaign receives high levels of public and private sector support from police forces, local councils, VAWG sector organisations, and national businesses including Uber, Tesco, Mitchells & Butlers pubs, Fitness First and the English Football League.
From the Enough campaign website’s launch on 1 March 2022 to 30 November, analytics indicate there have been over 133,000 sessions on the site.
The campaign has had paid marketing activity live in March 2022, October, November and December 2022. In March 2022, 65% of traffic was driven directly from paid activity and 35% was organic. During October (when paid activity was re-launched on 26th) paid activity drove 59% of traffic and organic drove 41%. In November, 67% of traffic was driven directly by paid activity and 33% was organic. December statistics are not yet consolidated.
However, these figures only capture the individuals who have actively consented to cookies, meaning they are only indicative of the total figure. It is probable the number is significantly higher and the split between organic and paid could be different.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their initiative on tackling the online abuse of footballers, what assessment they have made of the extent to which football clubs have taken up the opportunity of briefings from the police on systems for reporting and dealing with online abuse.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We are aware that some clubs have responded to the offer made by the police of briefings on systems for reporting and dealing with online abuse. This is an operational matter for football clubs and their players to decide on. Police remain ready and willing to offer their support in tackling online abuse directed at footballers.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help tackle (a) disruption and (b) abuse at professional football matches.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is clear that there is no place for any kind of discrimination or abuse in sport.
We are concerned by the increase in disorder at football matches and have discussed this with the relevant bodies. These include the Sports Grounds Safety Authority, the UK Football Policing Unit, and the Football Association. We will continue to liaise closely with all the football authorities about their work to tackle disruption and abuse at football matches.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help ensure that (a) threats against referees are not carried out and (b) they are adequately protected against such threats.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Violence against match officials is wholly unacceptable and will not be tolerated within the administration of any sport, including football. No-one should receive abuse at their workplace or in wider society, and criminal sanctions are in place where relevant.
More specifically, the Football Association has recently rolled out a nationwide respect campaign, “Pledge for Positivity”, which calls on coaches, parents and spectators of grassroots football to withhold their frustrations at match officials in an effort to create a more positive environment.
The FA have also designed a specific training module for aspiring referees on how to deal with abuse which is included in their Referee Course run at county level alongside other initiatives that are being rolled out to tackle abuse. These include a campaign promoting referees under the age of 18 to wear brightly coloured items of clothing to signal their age to others in an effort to reduce potential safeguarding issues or having mentors on standby to offer advice and support in the face of abuse.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to tackle racism in sport (a) in the UK and (b) abroad.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Racism has no place in sport, or in wider society. I am committed to ensuring sport does all it can to tackle racism and all forms of discrimination both domestically and internationally.
In June 2021 Sport England, UK Sport and the other home nations’ sports councils published the results of a detailed, independent review into tackling racism and racial inequality in sport.
The findings make clear that racism and racial inequalities still exist within sport in the UK and that there are long standing issues, which have resulted in ethnically diverse communities being consistently disadvantaged.
Each council is now working at pace to develop their own specific action plans to further deliver on these commitments and address the recommendations from the review.
In addition, the forthcoming update of UK Sport and Sport England’s Code for Sports Governance will place an increased focus on diversity in decision making and ensuring that sports organisations reflect the community 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.
The Prime Minister has also set out action to tackle online racist abuse in football following the abhorrent social media attacks on black England players after the Euro 2020 final. For the first time, the government will amend legislation to extend the use of Football Banning Orders so online abusers can be banned from stadiums for up to 10 years, in the same way violent thugs are barred from grounds. The Government, Premier League and football authorities will also work together to help tackle all aspects of online abuse footballers are experiencing, ahead of the Online Safety Bill coming into force. We also welcomed the Premier League’s “No Room for Racism” Action plan, and the announcement of new enhanced anti-discrimination measures such as league-wide bans for offenders.
There is still more to do though, and we will continue to work with sports to combat racism both in person and online.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include racism in football as a priority in the Hate Crime Unit; and what resources they will provide to that Unit.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. We are clear that victims of racially motivated abuse should be supported and that the individuals who carry out these hateful attacks should be brought to justice.
The Government is working with prominent footballers to understand more about the abuse they suffer on social media. We will continue to work with the Police, football representatives and those affected directly, to tackle this vile abuse, both on and off the football pitch.
We will outline our next steps in the forthcoming Hate Crime Strategy.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of a YouGov survey, published on 25 August, which found that 62 per cent of football fans fear that a player will be racially abused.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There is no place for racism in football, whether in the stands or on social media, or society more widely.
The Government therefore welcomed the Premier League’s “No Room for Racism” Action plan, and the announcement of new enhanced anti-discrimination measures to be implemented in the 2021/22 season, such as league-wide bans for offenders.
The Government’s pioneering Online Safety Bill will make it even tougher for offenders to abuse others, with social media firms facing huge fines if they fail to clamp down on abuse.
There is still more to do though, and we will continue to work with the football authorities to combat racism in the game.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will (a) commission an investigation through her Department's agencies into the proportion of the racist tweets directed at three England football players following the UEFA Euro 2020 final that originated in the UK and (b) publish a report following that investigation.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Racist abuse is utterly unacceptable whether it takes place online or offline. Individuals who commit racist offences should face the full force of the law and we already have robust legislation in place to deal with online hate crime.
While companies have taken some positive steps, more needs to be done to tackle online harms, including hate crime. The upcoming Online Safety regulatory framework will put in place measures to tackle illegal and legal but harmful abuse, including racist abuse. If major platforms do not meet their own standards to keep people safe and address abuse quickly and effectively, they could face enforcement action. There is no reason for companies to wait until the regime is fully running to take action against this abhorrent abuse, and we will continue to press them to do so.
The police are reviewing offending material and will work with the relevant social media companies to identify account holders and progress their investigations.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to put safeguards in place to ensure transparency and accountability with regard to competition in the Premier League and other monopoly-run sectors.
Answered by Paul Scully
An Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance chaired by my Hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford is underway with its work. It is a root-and-branch examination of football in this country, looking at the financial sustainability of the football pyramid, governance regulations, and the merits of an independent regulator. It will also consider the current Owners’ and Directors’ test, and the transparency and accountability of that process.
Under competition law, responsibility for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues falls to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition authority. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers and expertise to investigate and take action against businesses that abuse dominant positions in markets, for instance, by unfairly excluding competitors or exploiting consumers. In the regulated sectors, these competition powers are also exercisable by the relevant sector-specific regulators. The CMA may also carry out detailed examinations of why particular markets may not be working well and take remedial action to fix features of markets which restrict competition. Most sector-specific regulators in monopoly sectors have a legal duty to promote competition for the benefit of consumers (or equivalent).