The government may consider imposing a levy on Premier League clubs to help grassroots football, the culture secretary John Whittingdale said.

In a stark call for action from the richest clubs, Whittingdale said they needed to at least double the sums devoted to developing young talent at local level.

He questioned how much of the Premier League’s promise to devote £1bn of the £5bn TV deal to lower leagues was actually meeting that need, suggesting much of that was parachute payments to relegated clubs.

“Considerably more should go down through the system to the benefit of the grass roots,” the Whittingdale said as he was grilled by the commons culture, media and sport committee which he chaired before being handed the cabinet role.

“The Premier League is enjoying a complete bonanza now. There is a huge amount of money coming in but the proportion that reaches the lower divisions and the grassroots in particular is still very small. Should they be doing more? Without any question.”

He said he was not keen to have to intervene but would not close the door on the possibility. “If the Premier League absolutely refuses to increase the amount of money that passes down through the system to the benefit of grassroots sport then I think we would certainly look at what options we have available to us to ensure that is the outcome. I hope that can be avoided,” he said.

“It would be perfectly possible for the government to intervene to achieve that outcome, maybe through a levy.

“That is not a route I am attracted to. I would hope that football would recognise that ultimately the Premier League would benefit if young players were able to be attracted into the game because of the facilities available at the grassroots level.”

After Sky and BT Sport agreed to pay £5.14bn for domestic live rights from 2016-17, the 20 Premier League clubs agreed to hand over £50m each over three seasons.

Whittingdale suggested that the present distribution of funds was not reaching the right areas. “A lot of that is through parachute payments and the real challenge is to get right down into the grass roots. “Every MP will have local clubs who are struggling, and in some cases failing, to survive and yet there is this vast amount of money at the top of the game.”