Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government Guidance on Childhood obesity: a plan for action, updated on 20 January 2017, how funding generated from the sugar levy will be integrated into that action plan; and how such activity will be reported and monitored.

The Childhood Obesity Plan committed to use the revenue from the soft drinks industry levy to invest in programmes to reduce obesity and encourage physical activity and balanced diets for school age children.

In September 2017, we announced that we would use that revenue to double funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium to £320 million a year. Schools are required to report on their websites how they have used their premium to deliver sustainable improvements to PE and school sport.

The government has committed a further £100 million of revenue generated from the levy for the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund in 2018-19. This fund is intended to improve children’s and young people’s physical and mental health by enhancing access to facilities for physical activity, healthy eating, mental health and wellbeing and medical conditions. Responsible bodies and institutions who receive a Healthy Pupils Capital Fund allocation or have bid successfully for funding through the Condition Improvement Fund must report on use of the funding using the same processes for school capital allocations.

The government is using £26 million from the levy to fund a breakfast club programme between 2017-18 and 2019-20. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast are leading the programme. They will report to the department who will monitor progress as well as ensure the aims and objectives are being met. Family Action have also appointed an evaluator to conduct an evaluation for the innovation projects and they will also report on the larger scaling up of the Breakfast Club Services.

We are investing £22 million from the levy in an Essential Life Skills programme in the 12 Opportunity Areas to enable disadvantaged children aged 5-18 to participate in regular extra-curricular activities, including sporting activities, to develop essential life skills. The department is working with Opportunity Areas to monitor the overall impact of the different activities that they are engaged in.