Access to Sport: PE in Schools

Liam Conlon Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Liam Conlon (Beckenham and Penge) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) for securing this debate. She made some fantastic and profound points in her speech.

Like the hon. Member for Thornbury and Yate (Claire Young), I will focus on disability sports. In schools across the country, three in four disabled children do not take part in PE regularly, and four in 10 confide that they would like to take part in more sport if it was offered. We should not underestimate the impact this has on these children, with disabled children already facing exclusion and 72% of them reporting feeling lonely.

I know this from my own experience, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have not played sports since I was 13. I had an accident in year 8 where I shattered my hip; I did not walk for four years, and then had a hip replacement in sixth form. A challenge a lot of children who are disabled face in similar situations is that playing football and other sports is how children often build common bonds with their friends; it is what they do together and what they talk about. Being excluded from that has far wider repercussions.

This has been a big priority for me in my constituency. I pay tribute today to the work of ParalympicsGB, the Youth Sport Trust and others; they really recognise this and are doing lots of important local work to improve it. We have some fantastic projects and organisations in Beckenham and Penge that are using their own initiative to increase the participation of disabled people in sport. In Crystal Palace, the National Sports Centre is undergoing a multimillion-pound refurbishment to secure its facilities for future use and, crucially, to make them accessible. I think 19 world records have been set in Crystal Palace, but wheelchair users currently cannot get to the pools and a lot of the other facilities. As Members will know, this issue is close to my heart, and I am proud that this facility in my constituency will be made fully accessible and will be one of the best facilities not just in London but across the country for disabled sport going forward.

I want to put on the record my thanks to Sir Sadiq Khan, the team at the Greater London Authority, including project manager Ben Woods, and Councillors Ruth McGregor and Ryan Thompson, and to the Crystal Palace Sports Partnership, with John Powell and Fran Bernstein, who have really brought people together and made this happen.

Crystal Palace football club and the charity Palace for Life Foundation do genuinely incredible work right across south London, including at the National Sports Centre, to support disabled people and others. As part of this work, the foundation hosts football sessions for those with Down’s syndrome and visual impairments, as well as powerchair football.

One of the points that I often try to make to people is that, of all the protected characteristics defined by the Equality Act 2010, disability is by far the most diverse. We also talk of specific disabilities, such as autism and cerebral palsy, as having spectrums. The challenge for disabled sport is really comprehensive, but we have experts by experience—people with disabilities who understand how best to bridge that gap and make inclusion possible. It is fantastic that the Schools Minister has recognised this. I know that she has spoken about the need for increased PE in schools for disabled children. If I speak to some of the local schools in my constituency, I am told that having other facilities outside school is absolutely essential.

It would be remiss of me not also to mention Kent County Cricket Club in Beckenham, which, alongside managing two disability teams, runs a regular Friday night disability cricket session in Beckenham for children and young people. It has been fantastic to see a renewed focus on access to disability sport both in Government and in my local community, especially following the Paralympics. Increasing access to PE and sport is not something that will happen if we sit back and wait for it. Inclusion is not just an absence of exclusion, and achieving equity will require an active effort from all to get involved. I again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford for securing this debate.