Baroness Jowell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many hours per week (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school pupils spent participating in sport in 2015 compared to 2010.

Lord Nash

In both 2014/15 and 2009/10, primary schools reported spending around 2 hours per week on Physical Education.

In 2009/10, secondary school pupils spent on average around 1 hour and 45 minutes in PE each week. No equivalent figures are available for secondary school pupils for 2014/15.

Through the primary PE and sport premium, primary schools have received over £450m of ring-fenced funding to improve PE and sport. We have committed to continue this funding until 2020. In December 2015, we published a research report looking at how schools used the primary PE and sport premium and the impact of the fund on PE and sports provision. The findings show that 87% of schools reported that the quality of PE teaching had increased since the introduction of the premium. 84% of schools reported an increase in pupil engagement in PE during curricular time and in the levels of participation in extra-curricular activities. Meanwhile, 70% of schools reported that participation in inter-school competitions had increased and over half of schools reported an increase in intra-school competitions.