(Copeland) (Con):...I might
be asking this Transport Minister to overstep his mark, but it
would be helpful if he perhaps wrote to Ofsted, because I think
it would be incredibly powerful if, during Ofsted visits, the
inspectors asked schools how many of the children are walking or
cycling to school. I think that would encourage schools to work
with parents to develop safer routes, with things such as
side-road zebra crossings and other ways in which we can improve
the routes from home to school. That would mean that children get
to school and are more able to concentrate, and perhaps that they
get in the Daily Mile
in one day from getting to and leaving school. It would also
ensure they have formed the early habits of living more healthily
that will last them a lifetime...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport ():...As for bringing together all the Departments to
address national physical activity, I think it is entirely the
right thing to do. It is wider than just saying, “We want people
to do sport. We want them to get physically active.” Of course,
that is right, and individual Members of Parliament can make a
real difference on this. There is no doubt about that. They can
meet with Sport England—I recently met both the
chief executive and my local representatives—and drive forward
the sporting infrastructure that we all want to see; they can get
local representatives in their constituency. I should put on
record my thanks to the amazing Rob Aubrook—whom my hon. Friend
met when, as the Minister with responsibility for cycling, she
came to Northumberland—who has driven forward more cycling
infrastructure and other local infrastructure projects, just as
my hon. Friend made sure the infrastructure was improved in her
local area when she was just a humble campaigner from Bootle.
That surely is what we should all aspire to...
...My hon. Friend rightly raised the issue of schools. It is true
that I am not an Education Minister—some would say that that is a
very good thing—but I will write to Ofsted, as she invited me to,
to establish the extent to which we can drive forward an
assessment. I take comfort from the Daily
Mile a project that originated in Scotland and has
percolated southwards. It is a massive success story: every
single headteacher at the schools that do the Daily Mile
will genuinely say to those who visit them that it transforms the
way that the kids are educated. It transforms their attention,
their fitness and their engagement, and does them a world of good
in a host of social and other ways. A natural extension of what
schools are doing would be for there to be an assessment of, or
at the very least inquiry into, how schools are trying to improve
rates of walking and cycling, both at school and in the journey
to school. We have a Walk to School Week, which is part of a
programme organised by the Department for Education, but the
blunt truth is that it is not very successful. Far too few kids
walk to school, and we must try to do more about that...
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