Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve links between grassroots sports clubs and schools, in the context of efforts to (a) improve physical education and (b) support participation in sport.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government-funded School Games Organisers (SGOs) play a vital role in ensuring all children have access to local and inclusive sport and physical activity. With over 450 SGOs nationwide, they support schools in providing physical activity both during and outside school hours, while fostering connections with clubs and community initiatives. These organisers also facilitate professional development for school staff, enhancing the quality of physical education lessons and extracurricular activities.
An ongoing review of the SGO network is currently assessing the impact and value for money of various school sport models. This review will also explore and evaluate different delivery models for a future school sport network.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure existing sports facilities are not detrimentally impacted by changes to the planning system.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that open space, sports and recreational buildings and land, including playing fields and formal play spaces, should not be built on unless there is clear evidence it is no longer required, equivalent or better provision is secured in a suitable location, or development of the site is for alternative sports and recreational provision, the benefits of which clearly outweigh the loss of the current or former use. Planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of the need for open space, sport and recreation facilities and opportunities for new provision, which plans should then seek to accommodate.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage grassroots sports clubs to share their facilities with local communities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that sports facilities are important to communities up and down the country. High-quality, inclusive facilities help people get active.
Sport England, our arm’s length body that is responsible for physical activity and sport participation in England, invests over £250 million a year into grassroots sport and physical activity. A large part of Sport England’s work focuses on bringing organisations together at a local level including the health and sports sectors. This includes their place partnerships work which is working in a targeted way with local areas to understand and overcome the specific barriers in their communities.
The Government-funded School Games Organisers are essential in ensuring that all children have the opportunity to take part in local and accessible sport and physical activity. There are over 450 SGOs across the country who support schools in their local areas to provide physical activity both inside and outside of school, with many facilitating links to wider club and community engagement.
We are considering how we can best make all of this work for local communities as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage local authorities to develop strategies to bring (a) schools, (b) grassroots sports clubs and (c) other relevant organisations together to promote participation in sport.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that sports facilities are important to communities up and down the country. High-quality, inclusive facilities help people get active.
Sport England, our arm’s length body that is responsible for physical activity and sport participation in England, invests over £250 million a year into grassroots sport and physical activity. A large part of Sport England’s work focuses on bringing organisations together at a local level including the health and sports sectors. This includes their place partnerships work which is working in a targeted way with local areas to understand and overcome the specific barriers in their communities.
The Government-funded School Games Organisers are essential in ensuring that all children have the opportunity to take part in local and accessible sport and physical activity. There are over 450 SGOs across the country who support schools in their local areas to provide physical activity both inside and outside of school, with many facilitating links to wider club and community engagement.
We are considering how we can best make all of this work for local communities as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential contribution of grassroots sports clubs to providing (a) training, (b) experience and (c) other employment related skills as part of the Youth Guarantee Scheme.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Sports, arts and culture play a vital role in our society and economy. They create hundreds of thousands of jobs, drive economic growth, and bring joy to millions. That is why we formed our initial Youth Guarantee partnerships with the Premier League, Channel 4, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Across the country, many national and local organisations already do inspiring work with disadvantaged young people – helping them to build skills, grow in confidence, and access meaningful experiences, qualifications, and employment. DWP already works with organisations such as the English Football League, Rugby Football League, CoachCore and SportsWorks.
We are now exploring opportunities to expand initial Youth Guarantee partnerships by bringing additional organisations from the sports, arts, and culture sectors into national partnerships. For example, in the North West there is a network of grassroots sports organisations that we refer young people to for holistic support through the platform of sport.
In the North West they have found that referring to organisations such as Street League gives our young people access to mentoring, career advice, daily sport and fitness activities, and the opportunity to acquire recognised sports qualifications to pursue careers in the industry.
We continue to build relationships with grassroots and league clubs across the country to expand our network of options. Following insight with young people, we continue to work with organisations to identify gaps in their existing offers and how we can tailor programmes to better suit their needs.
These partnerships will connect young people across the country and offer a wide range of development opportunities – such as apprenticeships, work experience, training courses, and employability programmes. By engaging young people in a shared effort to enter and progress in the workforce, we aim to set them on a path to long-term success.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential contribution of grassroots sports clubs in preventative healthcare.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport and physical activity including grassroots sports clubs play a vital role in preventing, and helping to treat and manage, a wide range of health conditions and in delivering the Government’s Health Mission.
Latest evidence provided by Sport England shows that physical activity directly prevents 3.2 million cases of long term health conditions per year, including 1.3 million cases of depression and 600,000 cases of diabetes, worth over £10 billion in healthcare savings each year.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of incorporating (a) the use of ICT to plan, draft, edit and present written work and (b) other digital composition skills into the teaching of English in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
A strong foundation in reading and writing is crucial for children to achieve and thrive. As part of the government’s drive to improve reading and writing, the department will publish a writing framework this summer. This non-statutory guidance will be aimed at teachers and school leaders and will articulate a common approach to teaching writing most effectively at primary level, supporting schools in raising writing attainment.
Alongside this, the government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18. The Review is evaluating the existing national curriculum and statutory assessment system in England, to ensure they are fit for purpose. One of the aims of the Review will be to ensure that the curriculum supports an excellent foundation in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics, as part of a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work. The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn with the government’s response.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Preparing for Healthy Relationships toolkit developed by the Mayor of London to address violence against women and girls; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of rolling the toolkit out nationally.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. Education has a crucial role to play in preventing and tackling harmful behaviour, helping children and young people to develop empathy, boundaries and respect for difference.
Through compulsory relationships education, all pupils will learn how to form positive and respectful relationships and develop an understanding of the concepts and laws around sexual harassment and sexual violence.
The department is reviewing the statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, and as part of this review we are looking at how to ensure that the guidance equips pupils, starting in primary, to form healthy and respectful relationships. We are analysing consultation responses, talking to stakeholders and considering relevant evidence to determine how this can fully complement our wider actions to tackle VAWG. Ministers have been clear that the RSHE guidance must support schools to tackle misogynistic attitudes and help students gain the knowledge and skills needed to develop healthy relationships.
We are currently considering how best to support teachers to deliver high-quality RSHE and are aware of many of the programmes and toolkits already in place, including the Healthy Relationships toolkit developed by Tender and launched by the Mayor of London, which we understand is free for schools to use if they wish. As with other curriculum subjects, the department does not advise schools on which resources, external speakers or organisations to use, not least because schools operate in a variety of different contexts and have both the expertise and knowledge that makes them best placed to make these decisions. The department does not endorse or promote third-party resources to schools.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraphs 7.2 to 7.4 of her Department’s publication entitled Final stage impact assessment: Improve access to Statutory Sick Pay by removing the Lower Earnings Limit and removing the waiting period, published on 21 October 2024, what estimate she has made of the proportion of sickness absences that last at least four weeks; and what average length of sickness absence was estimated to calculate the annual cost of Statutory Sick Pay for businesses.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no administrative data collected or recorded when an employee takes a sickness absence. The best evidence available uses findings from the Employee Survey (Employee research Phase 2: Sickness absence and return to work. Quantitative and qualitative research: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64108286d3bf7f02f6e38078/employee-research-phase-2-sickness-absence-and-return-to-work-quantitative-qualitative.pdf.)
The survey showed that 64% of respondents had no sickness absence. Of those that do have a sickness absence, 13% of those who have a sickness absence reported an absence of more than 3 weeks. The majority of sickness absences were for up to a week (57%) followed by between 1 to 2 weeks (20%), and between 2 to 3 weeks (10%). These figures demonstrate that when workers took sickness absence, it was usually for a short period of time.
Of those who have had a sickness absence, many would receive Occupational Sick Pay. The Employee Survey findings suggest 57% of employees said they would receive OSP, while a further 9% said they would receive some combination of both SSP and OSP. 26% would receive SSP, while the remaining 8% do not know.
The estimated cost to business of SSP reforms is derived from a simulation model that incorporates raw sickness absence data from the DWP Employee Survey 2023 alongside characteristic information from the Family Resources Survey. (Family Resources Survey: financial year 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK)
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated to (a) Salford City Council and (b) Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.for road maintenance in (i) 2024-25 and (ii) 2025-26.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Both Salford City Council and Wigan Metropolitan Borough are constituent members of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). During 2024/25, the Government allocated funds to GMCA through its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which includes consolidated funding for highway maintenance funding for all its constituent authorities. In addition to this funding, during 2024/25 GMCA received a £4.4 million funding uplift as part of the previous Government’s Network North plan.
For 2025/26, GMCA will receive an Integrated Settlement from the Government, into which CRSTS will be consolidated. In addition to this funding, GMCA will receive an additional £14.8 million from the highway maintenance funding uplift announced in this Government’s 2024 Budget.
Funding allocations for CRSTS and highway maintenance are published on gov.uk.