Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department takes to promote the teaching of water safety in schools.

In the new national curriculum, which comes into force from September 2014, swimming and water safety remain compulsory in the programme of study for physical education (PE) at primary level. We are sending a clear message to schools that swimming and water safety are essential: no other activities are specified requirements in the PE curriculum. The programme of study for PE is available online here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-physical-education-programmes-of-study

The Department for Education is providing over £450million of ring-fenced funding across the academic years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 to go directly to primary schools, to be spent on the improvement of PE and sport. Headteachers are best placed to decide how the funding should be used and, using the funding, they can provide additional training and instruction in swimming and water safety (over and above the requirements of the national curriculum) if they choose.

There are a range of resources to help schools provide high-quality teaching, including from organisations such as the Amateur Swimming Association and from the Royal Lifesaving Society.