PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Football: Females (18 October 2022)

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to increase support to women's football, following the success of the lionesses at Euro 2022 and the open letter the Lionesses wrote to the Prime Minister in August 2022.

Asked by:
Alison McGovern (Labour)

We are determined to support more women and girls to get active and football is the most popular team sport in terms of participation for women and girls.

The Lionesses’ fantastic performance at the 2022 Women’s Euros has truly inspired the nation with a record breaking crowd of over 87,000 attending the final and 23.3m UK viewers tuning into the BBC’s coverage. It is essential that we take the opportunity to capitalise on and build on the success and legacy of the tournament and the team to secure a long lasting and sustainable future for the women’s game.

To raise the profile of facilities in the UK, and to commemorate the Lionesses, the Football Foundation is working with facility owners to name pitches/facilities in towns and cities that have a strong link to each tournament winning squad member. We will also continue to invest in grassroots sport to bring on the next generation of Lionesses and continue to work with the Department for Education to ensure girls have equal access to sports. The Prime Minister and the DCMS Secretary of State were delighted to meet the Lionesses earlier this month who are extraordinary ambassadors for sport. They reconfirmed their commitment to reviewing the barriers to girls accessing two hours of PE.

The recently announced Women’s Football Review will look at how to deliver bold and sustainable growth of the women’s game at elite and grassroots level. We would encourage all interested stakeholders and organisations to come forward and contribute views to Karen Carney’s review. It is vital that we hear from a variety of voices across the game.

Answered by:
Stuart Andrew (Conservative)
25 October 2022