Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the report of the Sport and Recreational Alliance on the Social value of movement and dance, published in February 2023; and if she will take steps to raise awareness of the report among schools.

The Department wants all pupils to be healthy and active and understands that a positive experience of sport and physical activity at a young age can create a lifelong habit of participation.

The Department recognises that physical exercise is good for pupils’ mental health and wellbeing. Dance can play an important role, which is why it features specifically in the content of the Physical Education (PE) and Sport National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 to 3.

Schools are free to decide how to include dance as part of the PE and Sport curriculum, to suit the needs of their pupils. It is up to schools to decide what extracurricular activity they provide for their pupils. The Sport and Recreational Alliance report may be useful to schools in making those decisions.