Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what date her Department took the decision to abolish the Sport Premium and replace it with a Partnerships Network; and for what reason that decision was not announced at the same time as the 2025-26 confirmation of funding for PE and Sport Premium.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Despite over a decade of investment via the PE and sport premium, less than half of all children meet the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended 60 active minutes a day. Inequalities persist, particularly for girls and pupils from disadvantaged and black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
On 21 May 2026, the government announced a new approach to PE and school sport funding. The decision on the future of the premium was taken in the context of wider decisions on budgets and the spending review, which enabled us to confirm investment over £1 billion for PE and School Sport over the next three years. This will fund a new approach combining both a universal offer to all primary and secondary schools, plus targeted support for those schools and pupils who will benefit from it the most. New partnership networks will strengthen links between schools and local clubs, to deliver high-quality PE for every child and remove barriers to participation for less active children. Provision will be informed by baseline and ongoing needs assessments led by a national delivery partner.
To support schools with the transition to this new approach, the government has committed to a £150 million transitional premium payment for the 2026/27 academic year. In response to longstanding calls from schools, we are also investing almost £200 million in capital funding to go towards improving school sporting facilities.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the reductions in funding under the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network on PE and sport provision in primary schools from 2027 onwards.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Despite over a decade of investment via the PE and sport premium, less than half of all children meet the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended 60 active minutes a day. Inequalities persist, particularly for girls and pupils from disadvantaged and black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
On 21 May 2026, the government announced a new approach to PE and school sport funding. The decision on the future of the premium was taken in the context of wider decisions on budgets and the spending review, which enabled us to confirm investment over £1 billion for PE and School Sport over the next three years. This will fund a new approach combining both a universal offer to all primary and secondary schools, plus targeted support for those schools and pupils who will benefit from it the most. New partnership networks will strengthen links between schools and local clubs, to deliver high-quality PE for every child and remove barriers to participation for less active children. Provision will be informed by baseline and ongoing needs assessments led by a national delivery partner.
To support schools with the transition to this new approach, the government has committed to a £150 million transitional premium payment for the 2026/27 academic year. In response to longstanding calls from schools, we are also investing almost £200 million in capital funding to go towards improving school sporting facilities.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of funding for the PE and Sport Premium on schools’ ability to fund staffing, equipment and external coaching.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Despite over a decade of investment via the PE and sport premium, less than half of all children meet the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended 60 active minutes a day. Inequalities persist, particularly for girls and pupils from disadvantaged and black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
On 21 May 2026, the government announced a new approach to PE and school sport funding. The decision on the future of the premium was taken in the context of wider decisions on budgets and the spending review, which enabled us to confirm investment over £1 billion for PE and School Sport over the next three years. This will fund a new approach combining both a universal offer to all primary and secondary schools, plus targeted support for those schools and pupils who will benefit from it the most. New partnership networks will strengthen links between schools and local clubs, to deliver high-quality PE for every child and remove barriers to participation for less active children. Provision will be informed by baseline and ongoing needs assessments led by a national delivery partner.
To support schools with the transition to this new approach, the government has committed to a £150 million transitional premium payment for the 2026/27 academic year. In response to longstanding calls from schools, we are also investing almost £200 million in capital funding to go towards improving school sporting facilities.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of her Department's officials have been seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute and (d) Labour Together since July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby
There have been no staff working in the department since July 2024 who were seconded from the Institute for Economic Affairs, the Policy Exchange, the Adam Smith Institute, or Labour Together.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff their Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby
Secondments are one way of bringing talent and experience into the Civil Service for short periods of time and have been used by successive governments. Secondments are arranged at a business unit level, which is also where the data is held.
There have been no staff working in the department since July 2024 who were seconded from Hakluyt.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff her Department has seconded from Palantir since July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby
There have been no staff working in the department since July 2024 who were seconded from Palantir.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much their Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The exact information requested is not readily held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in (i) 2020, (i) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department is not able to separate data for ministers and civil servants. Therefore, this data covers all Department and Departmental Arm’s Length Bodies colleagues.
The Department spent the following on first class rail travel:
First class travel can be booked in exceptional circumstances if one or more of the following applies:
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on taxi cabs for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The amounts spent by the Department on taxi travel for the requested financial years are:
These are the full amounts for both ministers and civil servants. The Department only has total figures readily available and so does not have the split for ministers and civil servants.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department has spent on (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does not separate the costs of agency workers, contingent labour, or any associated agency retainer fees in our accounts. A breakdown could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The cost of contingent labour (including agency workers) is published in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts (ARA), and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-annual-reports. Figures for the 2021/22 financial year are included, although the audit is still ongoing and this value may be subject to change.
The figures below cover the entirety of the Departmental Group, including Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies, for the years specified:
Financial Year | Contingent Labour & Agency Fees (£ million) |
2019/20 | £30.8 million |
2020/21 | £32.5 million |
2021/22 (subject to audit) | £39.2 million |