Tabled by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to Team GB’s success at
the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, what steps they plan to take (1) to
raise sports participation levels in schools, and (2) to provide
additional funding to support this.
(Lab)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in the name of
my noble friend .
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education and Department for International Trade () (Con)
My Lords, the Government are, along with noble Lords, extremely
proud of the success of Team GB at the recent Tokyo Olympics and
Paralympics. We are committed to raising school sports
participation by investing through the primary PE and sport
premium and funding to open school sports facilities. On Monday,
I had the pleasure of visiting a new free school—Coombe Wood
School, in Croydon—which puts health and fitness at the heart of
its educational approach.
(Lab)
My Lords, I pay tribute to all our Olympians and Paralympians in
Tokyo; not all returned with a medal—though of course many
did—but all returned, I think I can safely say, with the enduring
respect and admiration of those of us watching at home, in
recognition of the clearly tremendous efforts they put into
training over years. This is surely a carpe diem moment for the
Government to ensure that participation levels in sports increase
in all schools, but particularly primary schools. Habits gained
at an early age are more likely to be carried into adult life. In
June, the Secretary of State announced, in respect of the PE and
sport premium for primary schools, to which the Minister has just
referred, that underspends for the two pandemic years could be
carried forward into this academic year but must be spent by the
end of it. Why should such a limit be imposed when primary
schools need additional resources to increase and maximise sports
participation levels?
(Con)
My Lords, the PE premium is in fact a ring-fenced grant that
normally has to be spent within the academic year that it is
given. This was an exceptional relaxation, and we are keen that
those pupils whom it was intended to benefit have the benefit of
that money, and therefore it should be spent by the end of this
academic year.
(Con)
My Lords, I totally echo the words of congratulations to Team GB
and ParalympicsGB. Critical to the future improvement of sports
participation in schools is teacher training. Some student
teachers get as little as six hours of training on PE, and there
are many examples about resulting problems with teacher
confidence and competence when it comes to delivering a minimum
60 minutes of sport and physical activity a day. How do the
Government propose to tackle that?
(Con)
My Lords, in relation to the spending of the premium, a survey
was done by the department in 2019, and we are aware that schools
are spending a proportion of it on scaling up their workforce.
Over 97% of those who teach PE have the relevant level 4
qualification, but I will take my noble friend’s comments back to
Minister Gibb in relation to the reform of PE that he announced
to my noble friend’s Select Committee back in July.
(Lab)
My Lords, I add my congratulations to those already expressed by
noble Lords. There are sports facilities that stand unused when
schools are not in session. Can the Minister look to putting in
place arrangements by which all schools in the maintained
sector—including of course academies and free schools—are
required, and where necessary funded, to make sure that those
sports facilities are available to their communities?
(Con)
The noble Baroness is correct that 39% of sports and recreation
facilities in England are on school premises. That is why, over
the last two years, we have invested over £11 million to enable
those facilities to be used for extra-curricular activities for
pupils and by communities. We have seen nearly 100,000 community
users benefit from that, as well as nearly a quarter of a million
pupils in extra-curricular formats.
(Con)
My Lords, I add my congratulations to the athletes of Team GB and
ParalympicsGB. Beyond sports participation, does my noble friend
the Minister agree that the stories of Olympic and Paralympic
athletes, and their ability to act as role models, should,
alongside the Olympic and Paralympic values, run through our
education system like a golden thread of possibility? Would she
also agree to further consider how we can make even more use of
our Olympic and Paralympic athletes and their stories, to drive
potential right through our education system?
(Con)
My noble friend is correct; these stories are inspirational, and
your Lordships’ House benefits from the presence and
participation of people like my noble friend and the noble
Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson. I am pleased that, on Monday, the
Youth Sport Trust announced precisely this: it will have a
programme of events, to make sure that Olympians and Paralympians
can tell their stories in our schools.
(LD)
My Lords, we found out in 2012 that it is incredibly difficult to
translate the excitement of the Games into greater participation.
We also know from experience that, when people leave education—at
16, 18 or 21—if that is where their sporting activity is, they
tend to stop. What positive steps are the Government taking to
make sure that, before they leave school, people are playing
sport in amateur structures outside, which will lead to a
continuation of activity?
(Con)
I have outlined to noble Lords the increase in the
extra-curricular participation that we have funded, by way of
premises being open. On 16-plus, as part of Ofsted’s inspection
of FE it considers personal development. The matters that the
noble Lord refers to are of course part of our overall emphasis,
through health and well-being, on active participation for
adults.
(Con)
I, too, add my congratulations to Team GB and their great
achievements at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Given our
shared ambition to leave a legacy post Games, does my noble
friend the Minister agree that it is now time to make sports, and
physical activity, a higher priority in schools, given that it
fosters long-term physical, emotional, social and positive
well-being, and to consider making PE a core subject?
(Con)
I agree with my noble friend, and that is why, back in 2017, as a
result of the sugar tax, we doubled the PE and sport premium for
primary schools to enable them to do just that. In fact, when
looking at the number of hours per week on average in our
schools, PE has the third highest number of hours after English
and maths and it is the only foundation subject in the national
curriculum that is mandatory at key stages 1, 2, 3 and 4.
(LD)
My Lords, I count it a privilege to be able to associate myself
with the expressions of congratulations to both the Olympic and
Paralympic teams. I hope that I can easily persuade the Minister
and the House to reflect on the fact that, for most of the
members of these teams who are not medallists, the fact of
selection and participation in the Olympic Games will be the high
point of their sporting careers. The British Olympic Association
has a saying: “Once an Olympian, always an Olympian.” Would that
not be a very effective saying to use in the encouragement of
sports in schools?
(Con)
I can only agree with the noble Lord. It is pleasing to note that
20% of the athletes we sent to Tokyo are alumni of the DCMS 2010
initiative of funding School Games, so we are seeing that
graduation from participating in School Games to being an
Olympian. I agree with the noble Lord that everybody who
participated, particularly in the difficult circumstances this
time round, deserves our congratulations.
(Con)
Speedy access to a defibrillator saves lives. A decade ago, the
budding sportsman Oliver King, aged 12, suffered a cardiac arrest
during a swimming lesson and, sadly, passed away. It happened at
my old school, King David High School in Liverpool, in the pool
where I learned to swim. Oliver’s dad, Mark King, has campaigned
for 10 years, via the Oliver King Foundation, for defibrillators
to be in all schools. I attended a meeting a few days ago with
the Secretary of State, along with Mark and the charitable and
legendary former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher. Surely
legislation is not needed. Can my noble friend the Minister
assure me that defibrillators will be placed in all schools
urgently?
(Con)
I am moved to hear of my noble friend’s experience. I think that
those of us who watched the Euros were aghast at the events
there, which showed us that the speed with which Christian
Eriksen was resuscitated is vital in such circumstances. I can
assure my noble friend that all new free schools and refurbished
schools—the 100 schools we have announced—will have AEDs as
standard, and we encourage all schools to have them as part of
their first aid equipment. In health education at secondary
school, students are taught how to use that equipment, as well as
how to perform CPR.
(Lab)
My Lords, given the noble Baroness’s obvious commitment to school
sports, can she tell me why, since 2010, 215 school playing
fields were sold off? Will she put a stop to the practice?
(Con)
My Lords, on school playing fields, there is a policy only to
permit; the Secretary of State has to give consent. There is a
variety of circumstances in which the policy allows playing
fields to be sold, but there is a recommended allocation which
every school should have, and the department benefits from the
advice of the School Playing Fields Advisory Panel on any
suggestion. But the policy is to retain land within the school
estate wherever possible.
(Con)
My Lords, I refer to my interests in the register. In my part of
the country, the West Riding of Yorkshire, and across the whole
of the north of England, rugby league plays a huge role in
communities. But for most young people, especially those from
less well-off backgrounds, entry into the sport is predominantly
through schools. Can my noble friend therefore assure me that
support for rugby league in schools remains a priority for the
Government?
(Con)
In the School Sport and Activity Action Plan, flexibility is
given to schools to deliver what is appropriate for their
communities. To develop that plan, which will be updated this
year, we have a forum where the department takes advice. I can
assure my noble friend that the Rugby Football League is part of
that forum and makes its views clear to the department.
