Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the (a) extent and (b) impact of swimming pool closures on school swimming and water safety attainment levels.

The department recognises that children have missed out on opportunities to learn to swim due to COVID-19 restrictions. To mitigate the impact of this, through the Oak National Academy, the government has provided new virtual water safety lessons to ensure that despite pool closures pupils had some access to water safety tuition. The department is working closely with Swim England and other swimming and water safety organisations to support pupils returning safely to swimming and promote water safety education. Sport England’s annual Active Lives Children and Young People’s Survey reports that in the 2020/21 academic year, 76% of children in year 7 were able to swim at least 25 meters, this represents no change in comparison to the 2019/20 academic year.

During phase 2 of the Opening School Facilities programme (March 2021 to March 2022), 115 schools used funding to extend their swimming offer with many using funding to assist with cleaning and water testing, and minor investments such as extending lifeguard time or providing CPD for school staff to train as lifeguards.

On 2 October 2021, the government confirmed nearly £30 million a year for improving and opening up school sports facilities and improving the teaching of Physical Education at primary school. This further funding provides scope to provide funding, advice, and guidance to schools to make better use of their pools.

The government continues to monitor the cost pressures that schools are facing. Future increases in funding have been frontloaded to rapidly get money to schools so that in the 2022/23 academic year alone core schools funding will increase by £4 billion compared to the 2021/22 academic year.

The department recognises the impact rising energy prices may have. Ofgem and the government are in regular contact with business groups and suppliers to understand the challenges they face and explore ways to protect consumers and businesses.