Schools are to receive £415 million to help pupils benefit from
healthier, more active lifestyles, Education Secretary announced today (28
February 2017).
Primary, secondary and sixth-form colleges will be able to use
the funding to pay for facilities to support physical education
(PE), after-school
activities and healthy eating.
Schools will also be able to use the new healthy pupils capital
programme to improve facilities for children with physical
conditions or support young people struggling with mental health
issues.
Alongside the funding for the PE and sport premium, breakfast
clubs and universal infant free school meals, it represents over
£1.3 billion investment in the 2018 to 2019 academic year to help
young people live healthier lifestyles. This builds on wider
government work such as the recent sports strategy.
Education Secretary said:
Schools can really help our children get a healthy start in
life from exercise and sport, and also from knowing what a
healthy diet means. It’s not only good for them while they’re
in education, but the health and wellbeing benefits can last a
lifetime.
That’s why we’re investing £415 million in facilities to
support sports, after-school activities and promoting healthy
eating, so we can secure the future health of our young people.
Local authorities and larger multi-academy trusts will receive an
allocation for schools and will make decisions locally on how
this money is invested. Smaller multi-academy trusts
(MATs), individual
academies and sixth-form centres will be able to bid for grants
for specific one-off projects.
The money - from the Soft Drinks Industry
Levy - will be available to schools in the 2018 to 2019
financial year and more details on how the fund will be
distributed will be published later this year. Government has
also pledged to ensure that the amount schools receive will not
fall below £415 million regardless of the funds generated by the
levy.
The healthy pupils capital programme will build on the
government’s plans for schools to provide a longer school day by
changing the focus of the scheme to provide new facilities or
improve existing ones to make it easier for a range of
extra-curricular activities to be provided.
Notes to editors
The new healthy pupils capital programme funding will be
available in 2018 to 2019. All state-funded primary, secondary
and sixth-form schools in England will be eligible to receive
funding through one of two mechanisms, as follows:
- all local authority community, foundation and
voluntary-controlled schools will receive an allocation to their
responsible body through a central formula which will account for
pupil numbers. Voluntary-aided schools will also be funded in
this instance as part of the local authority allocation. Also
eligible will be MATs that currently qualify
for a direct school condition capital allocation. Responsible
bodies will then make spending decisions based on local context
- smaller MATs,
single-academy trusts and sixth-form centres will be eligible to
bid for funding through a new healthy pupils capital fund.
Information on the allocation formula, spending guidance and
bidding criteria will follow in the summer.
