Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps have been taken to ensure that schoolchildren can participate in a wide range of sports in (a) school and (b) extra-curricular settings.

The department is investing over £1 billion in PE and school sport over three years, including £530 million for the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network.

The new approach focuses on improving the quality of PE and school sport, reducing inactivity and addressing inequalities in participation. Support will include coaching, swimming provision, and support to open facilities. It will also strengthen links to extra-curricular activities, local sports clubs and community providers, alongside more accessible programmes from National Governing Bodies, helping more children access a wider range of sports and physical activities.

In addition, the department’s Enrichment Framework sets an expectation that all schools and colleges should offer a broad and well-rounded enrichment offer. Sport and physical activities are specifically identified as one of the areas that offers should cover. The £132.5 million Every Child Can programme will fund activity across the five categories of enrichment, within school and in communities at weekends and in the holidays.