Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to instruct schools to provide children with at least two hours of physical activity per week.

The department does not prescribe the time allocated to individual subjects; it is for schools to decide how much time is spent on any subject. The updated School Sport and Activity Action Plan published in July 2023 does however, set out that two hours of PE is the expectation for schools to be able to demonstrate that they are providing a good minimum amount of PE time. The department plans to publish non-statutory guidance early this year to illustrate the practical steps taken by schools to provide two hours of PE and equal access for girls and boys.

The government’s Get Active strategy published in August 2023 also provides a blueprint for how a system wide approach including schools can get 1 million more children meeting the Chief Medial Officers’ daily recommended amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity.