The following Answer to an Urgent Question was given in the House
of Commons on Tuesday 2 May.
“The UK concussion guidelines for grass-roots sport mark an
important step in making sport safer for millions of people.
Taking part in sport has many benefits. It is great for people’s
physical and mental health, and it brings friends and communities
together. We want to protect that and encourage more people to
enjoy being active and to play a sport.
As I set out in my Written Ministerial Statement published today,
the vast majority of people participate in sport safely, but head
injuries do occur. We want to reduce the risks associated with
concussion and make sport even safer for everyone. Research has
shown the importance of fast, effective, tailored treatment, and
we are issuing this expert guidance to help people spot and treat
head injuries. Our guidance is a tool for the thousands of people
who enjoy sport at the grass-roots level. Whether it is used in a
local leisure centre during a swimming lesson or in the second
innings of a village cricket match, this landmark guidance has
the chance to make a real difference to people across the UK.
The guidance was developed by a world-leading panel of medical
experts, and I am grateful to the whole expert group for giving
so freely of their time while drafting the guidance. I pay
tribute to the efforts of the group and to the valuable input of
the Sport and Recreation Alliance, which has worked tirelessly to
produce this excellent guidance. All that builds on the
world-leading work conducted in Scotland by raising UK-wide
awareness of the issue of concussion and making sport safer for
all who take part. Fundamental to the guidance is an overriding
simple message: “If in doubt, sit them out”.
Finally, this guidance is an essential but first step. The
Government remain committed to working with the industry to help
to make sport safe and enjoyable for everybody, including on
technological solutions and the prevention of concussion.”
16:04:00
(Lab)
My Lords, we on these Benches strongly welcome this guidance and
hope the Government will ensure that anyone suffering from a head
injury is able to get swift access to the treatment and
continuing support that they need. In the Commons yesterday, the
Minister said he was “sure” that his Department of Health and
Social Care colleagues would make announcements “in due course”.
I wonder whether the Minister can be any more specific on timings
today.
The introduction of concussion protocols in many elite sports has
undoubtedly helped increase awareness of the subject, but we
sometimes see players ignore the advice of medical professionals
and attempt to play on. Indeed, I remember my son as a teenager
being fouled and a penalty being given, and he was badly
concussed. He was determined to take the penalty spot kick, and
his mother and I had to wrestle him off the pitch.
We know that these things are important, so does the Minister
agree that governing bodies need to keep their own protocols
under review and that players themselves should be mindful of
their status as role models? What more do the Government plan to
do to ensure that this advice gets the profile it needs at all
levels of sporting endeavour? These are important moves forward,
and we broadly welcome them.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Culture, Media and Sport ( of Whitley Bay) (Con)
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for the support of the
party opposite. World-leading experts have informed this guidance
and it is important that we give it to the many people who are
engaged in recreational sport across the country. The example
that the noble Lord gives from his own family is illustrative of
the issues that we need to make people aware of, so that people
can intervene where needed and make sure that there is support
for those who require it.
As my right honourable friend the Sports Minister said yesterday
in another place, he has committed to continuing to work with his
colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure
that the relevant advice is given to people, including those who
want to contact the NHS through the 111 service. Many health
experts from lots of sporting backgrounds have been involved in
the preparation of this advice.
The noble Lord is right to point to the role of financial
governing bodies in disseminating the advice that is appropriate
in the context of their sports. Last year the English and
Scottish Football Associations banned heading the ball in
training for primary school-age children, an example of work that
has been taken on. We are working with national governing bodies
to make sure that the guidance is disseminated to everyone who
needs to see it.
(LD)
My Lords, will the Minister clarify one or two points? First, as
is said in the document and is well-known, the younger you are,
the more serious concussion can be. The school-aged people that
we are primarily talking about tend to play a lot of sports.
There must be thousands of people who have the experience of the
child who plays in three school teams and maybe also on a
Saturday.
What is the responsibility of the parent to make sure that, if
you have been banged on the head playing rugby, you do not simply
go off and play something else? Swimming is a good example. You
can injure you yourself when swimming; diving carries a risk of
concussion. What is the reference across that they are giving out
to parents and coaches in all these sports about all the people
involved? Are they going to make sure that everyone knows they
have to talk to each other and who the conduit is for passing on
that information? That is an important factor.
Secondly, when it comes to the governing bodies—which will be the
way that information will be disseminated to people in the
individual sports—what role does the Department of Health have in
making sure that the guidance is technically correct and follows
a consistent pathway? Any one of three Ministers could have
answered this Question, and it just happens to have fallen to the
noble Lord. What co-ordination is there to make sure that we have
a consistency of approach across all departments?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Lord is right that this is work that engages other
government departments and many institutions in education and
healthcare. A range of government departments and representatives
from the education sector and medicine have been engaged in the
process, and the guidelines will be published through all those
channels to make sure that schools, teachers and doctors are
aware. As I say, it is for the national governing bodies of each
sport to make sure that this baseline guidance is tailored to the
specific context and setting of their sport, and we would like to
see that built on. It is for them to give any additional
messages. The guidance is an essential first step, and
fundamental to it is the simple overriding message: if in doubt,
sit them out.
(Con)
My Lords, I have returned from a three-day rugby tournament,
excellently organised by the Birmingham Bulls, which involved 47
teams participating this weekend. I am interested by the use of
the word concussion or brain injury. Can my noble friend clarify
why the term concussion is persistently used when, in effect,
what we are actually talking about is potential brain injury?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
I send my congratulations via my noble friend to the Birmingham
Bulls and everyone involved in the Union Cup. We have chosen to
use the word concussion because it is what is most widely
understood. Certainly, as a non-medical and not particularly
sport-playing person, it was the term which was most self-evident
to me. As we want to get the guidance out to as many people as
possible, using layperson’s terms such as that seemed like a good
way to do it.
(Lab)
My Lords, it is over 20 years since the coroner recorded a
verdict of death by industrial disease in the case of England
striker and West Bromwich Albion legend Jeff Astle. That campaign
has taken two decades for the Astle family; I am sure the
Minister would congratulate them. This welcome guidance is
testament to the campaign that they have run to convince
parliamentarians in all Houses and on both sides that this is
important. But does he agree that concussion is still not
understood in schools and in amateur sport? Actually, concussion
is a brain injury, and if we use that language, we might get that
understanding of how serious these injuries really are for our
young people.
of Whitley Bay (Con)
I indeed congratulate all those who have campaigned on this from
bitter personal experience. I hope that the guidelines, and the
greater awareness and understanding that they will lead to, will
help avoid more situations and heartache for families like
theirs. The guidelines are clear that a concussion is a brain
injury; we have used the term that is understood so that we can
build on people’s awareness and bring in greater understanding.
Scientific and medical knowledge of this is evolving, so the
guidelines will evolve as it does, but the guidelines have been
informed by medical experts from around the world and people
involved in a variety of sports. I am glad that we have been able
to get them out, and look forward to all noble Lords helping us
to draw further attention to them.
(Con)
My Lords, I am sure my noble friend will share with me a strong
welcome for these concussion guidelines. Would he be able to
speak to his colleagues in the Department of Health and Social
Care and in the NHS to encourage them to direct those who look up
concussion or sports injury with concussion on the NHS website to
the guidelines themselves? What there is on the NHS website at
the moment is perfectly accurate but does not include much of the
additional information available in the guidelines, and it could
direct people to that. The present website is updated only to
October 2021.
of Whitley Bay (Con)
My right honourable friend the Sports Minister has committed to
continue to work with our colleagues at the Department of Health
and Social Care to make sure that the relevant advice is
available to those contacting the NHS through 111, online and in
other ways. We have fully engaged with the NHS during the
process, and it supports the approach taken in the guidance. The
Department of Health and Social Care is also formulating the
Government’s new strategy on acquired brain injury, and DCMS is
engaged in that work to ensure that people who play sport are
well represented in that process too.
(Non-Afl)
Does my noble friend the Minister know whether the Government
have any plans to outlaw boxing?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
We do not, but we hope that the guidelines will encourage people
who play sport, whichever sport it is, to do so safely.
(CB)
I suffered a two year-long concussion while I was representing
Barrow and Furness in the other place, and looking back, I was
staggered by the lack of knowledge even among fairly senior
professionals in the medical industry about this, so the
guidelines are very welcome. Does the Minister not share my fear
that we may be at the start, and not towards the end, of a
profound period of change with these guidelines, and that future
generations may look back with horror at the way in which people
playing sport, particularly younger people, are subjected to risk
of severe brain injury with practices at the moment?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
We know that physical activity, playing sport, is good for
people’s physical and mental health, and good for society. We
want more people to be active and to play sports, but to do so in
a way which is safe. The guidelines are an important first step
and a baseline for national governing bodies to make sure that
people who play sports, whichever sport it is, can do so safely
and enjoyably.
