Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with examination boards on the provision of ice skating as part of GCSE PE.

Following consultation (from July to September 2014), the Department published reformed content for physical education (PE) GCSE and A level in January 2015. The content includes a list of sports and activities in which students could be assessed as part of these qualifications.

The sports and activities in which students may be assessed were proposed by awarding organisations (AOs). Ice skating was not included, as it was not considered to meet all of the criteria for inclusion set out in the PE activity list rationale, which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447738/GCSE_activity_list_for_PE.pdf.

Exclusion of ice skating from the list was not raised as an issue during the consultation. The inclusion or otherwise of an activity on the list does not represent a view on the legitimacy of the activity. The activity list will be reviewed at a later stage.

Further details can be found in the Government response to the consultation (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gcse-and-a-level-reform) and equality analysis (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-level-subject-content-equality-impact-assessment).