Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that school-aged children have access to affordable extra-curricular sports activities.

It is up to schools to decide what sport and extra-curricular activities to offer to their pupils. The Government is committed to ensuring all children have access to high quality clubs, competitions and activities outside school, which are easy to find and participate in, and support their recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why £10.1 million of extra funding was recently announced to support schools to open their sports facilities outside of school hours, allowing them to work with local sports clubs to provide children with an increased selection of high quality extra-curricular activities. On top of wider economic support, the Government has announced a £100 million support fund for local authority leisure centres to ensure facilities remain available once public health restrictions are lifted. Sport England has provided £270 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through the COVID-19 outbreak.

Ministers recently hosted a roundtable with National Governing Bodies of Sport to discuss increasing opportunities for children to get active, including taking part in extra-curricular sport. This resulted in the launch of the new Active Recovery Hub. The hub provides schools and parents with activities from over forty sport providers to keep children of all ages active, including hundreds of ideas for extra-curricular activities.

The Department is also ensuring children have the opportunity to take part in extra-curricular sport during the school holidays. The Holiday Activities and Food Programme will provide children with the opportunity to take part in a range of engaging activities, including sport. We will also be providing funding to secondary schools to deliver a short summer schools programme blending academic education and enrichment opportunities, such as sport.