Cricket: Facilities
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the availability and affordability of indoor sports spaces for grassroots cricket charities operating during winter months; and what plans she has to allocate funding through (a) Sport England and (b) the England and Wales Cricket Board to help offset facility hire costs for community groups.
Answered by Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to affordable quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That's why we’ve invested £3 million into new all-weather, covered cricket domes this year which ensure accessible sport year-round, building on the £1.5m investment into covered cricket domes made last year. New and refurbished facilities give families low-cost options to stay active, helping when many are facing cost-of-living pressures. The wider sports sector helps to drive good growth in every postcode, something I saw when I visited Loughborough University’s Women in Sport Research and Innovation Hub last year.
Between 2022 and 2029, we are supporting grassroots participation with a £13.4m investment via Sport England and the England & Wales Cricket Board. Earlier this year, the ECB also launched their Building Belonging in Cricket Fund - a £45m investment to improve grassroots cricket facilities and help enable year-round play through the construction of all-weather cricket domes, indoor halls, multi-use games areas and community hubs. The ECB is working with Regional Cricket Boards, including Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket Foundation, to identify potential projects.
In order to increase availability and accessibility to the local community, Sport England factors in a site's Community Use Agreement, and their capacity to offer free/low cost bookings when determining whether individual projects should receive funding.
We are collaborating with the sports sector, including the ECB, and local leaders to develop investment plans for a range of sports across the country based on what each community needs.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →