Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to promote professional sport as a career to girls at primary school level.

It is important that all children are given the opportunity to try different sports and develop their abilities, which might lead to a professional career for some. My right Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, recently made a commitment to the development of a school sport and activity action plan to engage all pupils in sport at school. This work will look at the opportunities that are given to girls.

The government will be engaging with professional sports bodies to develop the action plan. Existing programmes such as Primary Futures and Premier League Primary Stars help pupils to understand the connection between learning and their futures from an early age, including through access to sports personalities and sports-themed maths and English resources.

Through the Primary PE and Sport premium, the government has invested over £920 million of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013. From September 2017, this funding was doubled to £320 million per year and allows schools to offer different sports of interest to pupils, participation in more competitive sport and offer extra-curricular sports that appeal to all pupils to develop healthy habits from an early age and a lifelong love of sport and physical activity.