Sporting and Performing Arts Opportunities for Pupils in State Schools

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

PE remains part of the national curriculum from key stage 1 to key stage 4. There are many sports organisations at local level—clubs, often supported by their national governing bodies—which will provide young people with that start and a welcome. Through the PE and school sport partnerships, we want better to join schools with the local and national sporting organisations that will help young people get the experience the noble Lord outlines.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

My Lords, although they are pro bono positions, I declare my interests as a board member of the London Marathon Foundation and the Daily Mile Foundation. At a time when government data shows that fewer than half of children achieve the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity, the daily mile helps around 2 million children in England build such activity into the school day. Simple, inclusive and free, it is accessible to all children. The Minister referred to the new PE and school sport partnerships network. As that is established, will she work to ensure that schools are supported to embed everyday physical activity programmes, such as the daily mile, alongside PE and competitive sport, to get every child active, regardless of their background or ability?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes a really important point about the whole range of ways that we can help children to be active. As she says, we do not yet have sufficient children meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation of 60 minutes of activity every day. The daily mile is an excellent example of how schools can, quite simply and straightforwardly, increase the activity children are engaged in. It is exactly the type of partnership we want to promote.