Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase availability opportunities for physical activities for children and young people in Pupil Referral Units.

On 16 March, the Government announced its vision for reforming alternative provision (AP) in ‘Creating opportunity for all: Our vision for alternative provision’ (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creating-opportunity-for-all-our-vision-for-alternative-provision). This sets out how the Government will reform AP to raise standards and improve outcomes for all children in AP, including Pupil Referral Units.

Physical Education (PE) is compulsory at all four Key Stages in the National Curriculum. While this does not apply directly to AP, the Department’s statutory guidance advises that AP should enable pupils to ‘achieve good educational attainment on par with their mainstream peers’ and to study ‘appropriate accreditation and qualifications’.

Through the primary PE and sport premium, the Government has provided over £600 million to primary schools, including primary pupil referral units, to be spent on the improvement of PE and sport. From September 2017 the Government doubled funding for the premium to £320 million a year. In 2018-19 the Department is providing schools with £100 million Healthy Pupils Capital Fund to support them to improve access to facilities for physical activity, healthy eating, mental health and wellbeing and medical conditions. Local authorities and large multi academy trusts can determine how to allocate this funding to best meet the needs of all pupils, including those pupils educated in pupil referral units they are directly responsible for.