Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department will take to set accountability measures to guarantee equitable access to the enrichment entitlement across all regions.

Almost all schools offer some form of enrichment activity to pupils. Ofsted inspects provision as part of its personal development judgement.

To support all schools to develop, improve and widen access to their offers, the department is developing an Enrichment Framework which will include benchmarks for how schools and colleges can build a strategic and intentional offer of enrichment that can benefit all children and young people. The Framework will be published in early 2026.

Our ambition is that all schools should provide an enrichment offer to all pupils that meets the new benchmarks. This includes access to civic engagement, arts and culture, nature, outdoor and adventure, sport and physical activities, and developing wider life skills. We will consult on how enrichment is embedded in School Profiles, ensuring they are co-designed with the input of schools and frontline expertise. To provide more targeted support, we are working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the design of the enrichment expansion programme, and more details will be provided shortly. This will go alongside wider support such as £132.5 million of Dormant Assets funding to support the provision of services, facilities, and opportunities to young people, particularly those from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds.