Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to ring-fence a proportion of the revenue raised from the sugar levy to support the least active children to exercise more.

We want all pupils to be healthy and active. Since 2013, we have invested over £600 million of ring-fenced funding to improve PE and sport in primary schools through the Primary PE and Sport premium. Evidence indicates that the funding is having a major impact, with 84% of schools reporting an increase in pupil engagement in PE during curricular time and in the levels of participation in extra-curricular activities.

Schools have the freedom to decide how best to use the funding based on the needs of their pupils, and the evidence indicates that the majority of schools are already targeting some of their funding at the least active pupils within their schools.

But we know that there is more to do, which is we have committed to using revenue from the soft drinks industry levy to double the primary PE and sport premium to £320 million a year from September 2017. This will enable schools to make further improvements to the quality and breadth of their PE and sport provision.