Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the effect on the number of children participating in sport of the increase in the school sport premium from September 2017.

Edward Timpson

Through the primary PE and sport premium, primary schools have already received over £450 million of ring-fenced funding to improve the quality of their PE and sport provision. Evidence from an independent evaluation into the premium indicates the funding is having a major impact and 84% of schools reported an increase in pupil engagement in PE during curricular time and in the levels of participation in extra-curricular activities. The majority of schools also reported that they have introduced new sports in both curricular PE (74%) and extra-curricular sport (77%) since the premium was introduced.

However, we know that there is more to do and the doubling of the premium gives us a real opportunity to drive further progress in this area. We are keen that schools use the increased funding to continue making sustainable improvements to the quality and breadth of PE and sport provision, and help increase participation rates so that all pupils develop healthy active lifestyles.

We are currently exploring options for the allocation and evaluation of the doubled premium. Further details will be announced in due course.