Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Conclusion 6
Ninth Report - Football Governance
Published 30 Jun 2023
Paragraph 31
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The inclusion of concrete, universal EDI measures in the new Football Governance Code is a necessary step to address the significant concerns about a lack of EDI oversight in football. The work on EDI done by the leagues to date has not been undertaken collaboratively and opportunities to pool resources to avoid duplicating work have been missed. We welcome the acceptance from the football authorities Football Governance 19 that they should be doing more to improve EDI outcomes across football. However, while we welcome the standards that organisations have introduced since 2014, the limited progress on EDI outcomes over the past decade means we are sceptical of the claims that this work will now suddenly be done collectively without the need for an industry standard through the Football Code.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Ninth Report - Football Governance (HC 1288), paragraph 31, 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.