Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of trends in the weekly level of physical activity for people aged 16 years and under since 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Levels of physical activity for children and young people are captured through the Active Lives (Children and Young People) Survey which was launched in schools in September 2017. Sport England developed the survey in response to the extension of its remit to cover children aged 5+, in the Sporting Future strategy published by Government in December 2015. The survey will provide robust data on how children (aged 5-15) engage with sport and physical activity. The first set of results will be available in early 2019.

Prior to the development of the Active Lives (Children and Young People) Survey, activity levels of 14-16 year olds were measured through the Active People Survey, which collected data from the period of October 2005 to September 2016. Data is available online: https://www.sportengland.org/research/about-our-research/active-people-survey/.

In addition, some data on children’s sport participation is also gathered through the Taking Part survey. Data is available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sat--2