Are schools doing enough to promote active lifestyles? Lords Sport and Recreation Committee to explore role of PE lessons and use of school sports facilities

The House of Lords Committee on Sport and Recreation will this week take evidence on the role of schools in supporting active lifestyles among their pupils and the wider community.

Over two sessions the Committee will explore the role of the Physical Education curriculum in schools and whether it is effective in instilling a lifelong love of sport and physical activity. The Committee will also ask witnesses to comment on evidence they have received that school sports facilities could be made more readily available to local communities and sports clubs outside of school hours to encourage more people to be active.

The evidence sessions will start at 3:30pm on Wednesday 10 March. The sessions can be watched live and on-demand at www.parliamentlive.tv

The witnesses giving evidence to the Committee are:

3:30pm

• Ali Oliver MBE, CEO, Youth Sport Trust
• Sue Wilkinson MBE, CEO, Association for Physical Education
• Dr Liz Durden-Myers, Senior Lecturer in Physical Education, University of Gloucestershire

4:30pm

• Laura Cordingley, Chief Executive, Chance to Shine
• Mark Hardie, CEO, Access Sport
• Oliver Scadgell, Participation Director, Lawn Tennis Association

The first session will feature questions on the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium on the quality of PE and sport in schools, whether local sports clubs should be involved in delivering sports in schools for younger children and whether Ofsted should have a bigger role in assessing PE in schools.

The second session will look at out-of-school sport provision, how sport and activity can be made more fun for young people and whether more should be done to make schools sports facilities available to children outside of school hours.