Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reduction in the numbers of children learning to swim due to the closure of swimming pools in the past year.

The Government does not collect data from schools on how many pupils are able to swim, but data from Sport England's annual Active Lives Children Survey provides the government with a national picture. Data for academic year 19/20 show that 77% of children in year 7 report they can swim 25m.

Swimming and water safety is an important part of the primary PE curriculum. The government is committed to ensuring that all children leave primary school with vital swimming and water safety skills. The PE and sport premium can be used by primary schools to support swimming and water safety, for example through 'top-up' lessons or additional teaching training. We provide schools with the flexibility to decide how to spend their premium in line with conditions of grant and do not collect data on proportion or amount of spend for any given activity.

In addition to the PE and sport premium, schools are able to access new virtual water safety lessons from Oak National Academy and the Department will be supporting the Royal Life Saving Society UK's Drowning Prevention Week in June 2021. The government has provided an additional £10.1m to improve use of school sport facilities, including swimming pools. New resources to support children with SEND learning to swim and knowing how to be safe in and around the water have been developed through the Inclusion 2020 grant, which is led by the Youth Sport Trust. These resources are available on Swim England's inclusion hub.