Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to (a) assist and (b) encourage schools to make sport facilities available to the local community outside of school hours.

We encourage schools to make facilities available to the local community, including sports facilities, and many schools do.

Individual schools and their governing bodies or trusts are responsible for how they use their premises and facilities. We have published advice about the use of school premises for extended activities and community service in section 11.2 of the Governance Handbook. This can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook.

Sport England has developed a resource for schools, titled ‘Use Our School’, which provides additional support for schools in opening their facilities to the community and keeping them open, and can be accessed at www.sportengland.org/facilities-planning/use-our-school/

The Government's new strategy for sport, 'Sporting Future, A New Strategy for an Active Nation' includes an action for Sport England to review take up of and engagement with its ‘Use Our School’ guidance to ensure that facilities owned by schools and colleges are used as effectively as possible.