§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many young people from(a) the south-east, (b) London and (c) the UK have been given financial assistance for training for national squads in (i) boxing, (ii) cricket and (iii) football in the current financial year. [158210]
§ Mr. Chris SmithThe financial assistance provided by Sport England to assist young people with the potential to reach the national squads is currently provided through the lottery funded world class programmes: performance, potential and start.
The funding is provided to both the national governing body for the main costs associated with the programmes and also to individual athletes included in the plans.
In the current financial year, boxing has been awarded funding for world class performance, potential and start. The potential squad includes 14 young people around the ages of 18/19 who are receiving individual financial assistance. Two are from the south-east, one of whom is from London. Cricket similarly has been awarded financial support for its world class programmes. However, while no young people currently receive individual assistance they will benefit from the £2 million programme award. Football does not have a world class programme due to the lack of financial need, which therefore means that no young people currently receive financial assistance through the world class programmes.