Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to improve the provision of afterschool physical exercise clubs for (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils.

In July 2023 the Department published an update to the school sport and activity action plan, which will support teachers and schools to deliver two hours of high quality physical education (PE) and provide competitive and extracurricular opportunities to all pupils.

The primary PE and sport premium supports all primary schools to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the PE, physical activity and sport they offer, complemented by a wide range of extracurricular sport and competitive opportunities. The Department has announced over £600 million across the 2023/23 and 2024/25 academic years for the premium, along with £22 million for the school games organiser network.

New, non-statutory guidance will be published by the end of 2023. This aims to communicate a range of approaches to all schools for successfully delivering a minimum of 2 hours PE per week, equality of access to PE and extracurricular school sport and competition using examples from different types of schools and locations.

The Department is funding up to £57 million to deliver phase three of the Opening School Facilities programme, which allows schools to open their sports facilities outside of the core school day to provide more extracurricular opportunities for pupils and communities to play sport and be physically active. The programme is targeted where the funding will have the most positive impact, including for girls, disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and disabilities and other groups who have lower participation levels in sport.

The Department is also investing up to £289 million to support local authorities and providers in England to introduce or expand childcare provision for primary school aged children as part of the national wraparound childcare programme. This could include the use of Ofsted registered childcare providers that specialise in sports provision and physical activities.