Women’s Football: Talent Pathways and Player Wellbeing

There are good examples from other sports. In tennis, for instance, 49% of those on the performance pathway are women, because the performance pathways through regional development centres and national academies are the same for men, women, boys and girls. That is what we should be aiming to achieve in every sport. I am sure that the FA’s new women and girls talent pathway will go some way towards achieving it in football, but it will require investment, as well as reform through regulation.

When the Government publish their White Paper on football regulation, we will be able to see whether they have plans for proper funding settlements across the board. Such settlements will hopefully free up finances in the lower leagues for teams that are embedded in their local communities, potentially enabling them to open up their own pathways in the communities they represent. We know that the White Paper’s release has been delayed, but I am keen to hear whether the Minister can give us a definitive date for when it will be published. The sport needs regulation and the Government have promised it. I sincerely hope that the delay is not an indefinite one.

The issue of finances in football, and in this case women’s football, leads me to my next point about player wellbeing. The sport is growing and the experience of players now is much better than it used to be, especially in comparison to the time when I was a girl, when we were not allowed to play football at school. It is totally different now, but there are still massive concerns for players about job security and their working conditions.

We know anecdotally that too often players find that the idea of them being pregnant is informally discouraged because of the complications that would bring for the clubs they play for. We also know that players are reluctant to call out safeguarding issues, because they fear that complaining to their club about any such issue will damage their career. This is simply not good enough. We need the players to feel they can trust the system and to have trusted people they can go to who are independent and can help and advise them.

There has been a continuous growth in the uptake of the PFA’s welfare services in the women’s game, with support provided to address really important issues such as eating disorders and mental wellbeing. We need to ensure that safeguarding processes are trusted and independent, because with the rise in visibility of the sport, we have to recognise that welfare and safeguarding issues will become more relevant, too. New image rights deals, for example, bring vital revenue to players and the sport, but also new challenges, such as pressure on body image and issues such as online safety.

We already know the effect that that sort of concern has on teenage girls, where we often see in many sports a drop-off of young women playing through their teenage years. To keep growing the sport, we need better infrastructure for girls through those years, to ensure that all young women feel it is an environment they want to work and succeed in, and where they can have a viable career.

Of course, football is not the only sport with such problems. In English rugby union, for example, the lack of formal recognition from the Rugby Football Union to the Rugby Players Association is holding players back, and it is affecting the women’s game. As the women’s premier 15s look to move towards professionalism, players must be protected with standard contracts and supported in their needs to be dual-career athletes. I am keen to hear the Minister comment specifically on that and on whether there have been any conversations with the sport about it, as well as his view on the importance of players’ voices being heard.

Finally, through talent pathways, grassroots sports and even elite sport, it all comes down to facilities. They are being threatened by increased energy costs that risk them going out of business or being forced to reduce services. I am interested to know what more the Minister is doing to support these vital community assets. Community facilities play a key role in making sports accessible to a wide range of people, ages and ability. It is important that the sector is protected. Ultimately, today is a great time to be a female sportsperson. Visibility, revenue and participation are all massively on the rise, but the perils of precarious job security, health concerns and lack of investment make it a real challenge.

I will repeat for clarity the questions I have posed to the Minister. I would be grateful if he updated us on the Prime Minister’s commitment on access to football in schools, with equal access for boys and girls. When will we see action, not just words? Will the Minister tell us what plans the Government have for greater equity in funding between the men’s and women’s games talent pathways? What plans does he have to support vital community leisure assets that are struggling with energy bills? Finally, will he give us a definitive date for the publication of the White Paper on football regulation, or even narrow it down to a week or two? That would start to answer a lot of the sport’s long-standing questions.

We are investing over £300 million between 2021 and 2025 to improve grassroots facilities across the UK, to help more women and girls access the high-quality facilities that the hon. Member for Sunderland Central rightly alluded to. To commemorate the Lionesses’ incredible achievement, we are also working with the Football Foundation and the FA to name sites after the players in the towns and cities that shaped their careers. The Lionesses have become extraordinary ambassadors for sport, and we will continue to invest in grassroots sport to bring on the next generation of Lionesses.

We know how valuable PE is at school. It gives pupils an opportunity to excel, to be active and to lead healthy lives. We are actively working with colleagues in the Department for Education to understand the barriers that prevent the ambition of two to two and a half hours of PE a week from being achieved, and we will continue to work with them to ensure that girls have equal access to sport. I was struck by the meeting that I attended with the Secretary of State for Education and the Lionesses about shared ambitions to do that. There is more work for us to do to identify and address the different barriers to participation that exist, but we are working on that. We will continue to adopt a more targeted approach as part of our new sport strategy, which we are working on at the moment. Alongside that, the Department for Education is working on updating the school sport and activity action plan, which will set out actions to improve PE teaching in primary schools and help schools to make better use of their sport facilities.

I am pleased to learn that this week the FA will launch its revised women and girls player pathway, which focuses on providing a wide and diverse pool of players ready for senior domestic and international football. I am determined to strive for greater diversity and inclusion in women’s sport. According to the Professional Footballers’ Association, just 9.7% of footballers in the elite women’s game are from diverse ethnic backgrounds, compared with 43% of male players in the premier league. I am glad that the hon. Member for Sunderland Central mentioned this, because it shows that there is more work to do to ensure that all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to football and the opportunity to progress, if that is what they wish to do.

The pathway that the FA has been working on includes measures specifically focused on access for a diverse pool of talent, with the Discover my Talent referral programme already seeing a more diverse cohort of players, particularly at the under-17 level. This shows progress, but that work must continue, and we will continue to work with the FA to drive for further, immediate action in this space.

There is no doubt that the Lionesses’ win last year has inspired the next generation and was a turning point for women’s football. However, I recognise that much more still needs to be done to achieve parity with the men’s game and to drive progress more widely across women’s sport.

I am acutely aware that player welfare goes beyond prize money and medical provision into the space of safeguarding and mental health. I do not wish to pre-empt the findings of the future of women’s football review or comment on recent press coverage, but I am aware that the review is inviting evidence from current and former players on their experience of the professional environment. I will pay particular attention to any recommendations that the review makes, based on their evidence. I welcome the work of the PFA in providing support for female footballers, and of organisations such as Women in Football in challenging the status quo. I will certainly follow up many of the points that the hon. Member for Sunderland Central raised.

The ongoing review of the future of women’s football, which is chaired by former England and Great Britain footballer Karen Carney, will look at how to deliver bold and sustainable growth of the women’s game at elite and grassroots levels. There is now an urgent need to ensure that the basic processes and structures are in place to protect the interests of the game and the people working in it. This is a defining period for women’s football, and this thorough review will be at its heart.

The hon. Member for Sunderland Central mentioned the funding settlement. The FA is at an inflection point in the development of the elite game, and it has flagged issues in funding the elite pathway. The review of women’s football will look at the matter in great detail to see how payment is provided. As I said, I will not pre-empt anything that is said in that review, but given that such a formidable ex-player is chairing that important work, I am confident that football, talent pathways and player welfare will be cornerstones of its findings. I look forward to working with the chair as the review progresses towards its final report in the summer of this year.

The hon. Lady also raised facilities and the increasing costs they are facing. I have been holding a series of roundtables and have had regular engagement with a number of organisations up and down the country. Although we have provided a tremendous amount of support, I recognise that there are still challenges, and I am working with colleagues in the Department and other Departments to see what other work can be done to help.

The FIFA Women’s World cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer will continue to shine the spotlight on women’s football, and rightly so. We should use the opportunity to build on the tremendous momentum that has already been created and drive change forward.