Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has put in place to ensure that every primary school child is able to undertake at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day.

It is important that all children have the opportunity to engage in physical activity and sport in a way that interests them. We want all primary school children to do at least 30 minutes of the Chief Medical Officers’ recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity at school.

As part of our Childhood Obesity Plan we are promoting a national ambition that every primary school should adopt an active mile initiative, which can be a good way for schools to achieve this aim. We support primary schools to enhance their Physical Education (PE) and sport provision through the PE and sport premium, which we have recently increased to £320 million per year using money from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. This money can be used to improve the PE, sport and extra-curricular activities offered by schools.

Other initiatives to encourage increased physical activity by primary age pupils outside the school day include the department’s Essential Life Skills Fund and Sport England’s Families Fund. Both programmes support children from low income families to access opportunities to develop competence and confidence in their ability to be physically active outside the school day.