Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 5
Ninth Report - Football Governance
Published 30 Jun 2023
Paragraph 23
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Sport governance All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
IREF, beginning in shadow form, should ensure that its licencing conditions regarding fan engagement are set independently of the current Premier League Fan Engagement Standard. Unless there is immediate and significant change from leagues and clubs, we expect that IREF will be required to set and enforce a substantially higher level of fan engagement for clubs to meet than the Leagues have set themselves, in order to ensure all clubs work to meet the needs of fans.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Ninth Report - Football Governance (HC 1288), paragraph 23, 30 June 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 September 2023 (deadline 8 September 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and remains "committed to legislating" to put the Independent Football Regulator on a statutory footing "as soon as parliamentary time allows".
- On a shadow regulator by the end of 2023, it says a formal transition team operating in shadow form "would require Second Reading of a Bill to have taken place", though preparatory work is happening "regardless".
- It agrees that the Regulator should set fan engagement standards independently of the Premier League Fan Engagement Standard and the football industry more broadly.
- On equality, diversity and inclusion, it "notes and supports" the calls for further action but says the Regulator will focus on financial sustainability, so wider issues are "best placed to be led by industry".
- On revenue sharing, it has a "strong preference" for a football-led solution, but says the Regulator will need statutory powers to intervene "as a last resort" if football fails to reach an agreement.