Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of replacing the PE and Sport Premium with the PE and School Sport Partnerships Network on the amount of funding received directly by individual primary schools.

The department is investing over £1 billion for PE and school sport over three years, including £530 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network. Detailed design and funding allocations will be confirmed through the procurement process, but the approach will focus on ensuring support reaches those most in need.

Despite sustained investment through the PE and sport premium for over a decade, less than half of children are meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation of 60 active minutes a day. In addition, persistent inequalities remain, with groups such as girls and those from disadvantaged and ethnically diverse backgrounds.

The department’s new approach, which is supported by the major sports governing bodies and the wider school sport sector, focuses on securing higher quality PE and school sport for all children and reducing inactivity amongst those who are currently least active.

It combines both a universal offer to all primary and secondary schools, which includes school requested intervention, plus targeted direct support for those schools and pupils who will benefit from it the most. This includes coaching, swimming provision and support to open facilities, as well as stronger links to extracurricular sport and local clubs. We will also provide targeted funding for schools to test and share effective practice, alongside more accessible programmes from National Governing Bodies and clearer pathways into community sport. Provision will be informed by baseline and ongoing needs assessments led by a national delivery partner.

To support schools with the transition to this new approach, the government has committed to a transitional premium payment of £150 million for the 2026/27 academic year.

In response to longstanding calls from schools, we are also investing almost £200 million in capital funding to go towards improving school sporting facilities.