Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support schools and children’s groups to develop appropriate physical activity facilities and equipment for children with disabilities.

The government firmly believes in the importance of physical education (PE) and sport to develop all children’s physical competency and teach valuable life skills such as character, resilience, communication and team work that can be carried through into adulthood and improve overall wellbeing and employability.

Since 2013, the government has invested over £1 billion through the primary PE and sport premium to improve PE, sport, physical activity and extra-curricular activities for all pupils. We encourage schools to use this funding to support their least active pupils achieve the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of 60 minutes of physical activity each day, of which 30 minutes should be during the school day. Schools have the freedom to use the funding to determine which activities will improve participation, especially for their least active pupils and a commitment in the childhood obesity plan to promote a national ambition for every primary school to embrace an active mile, such as the Daily Mile. £100 million from the soft drinks industry levy is being used to provide the healthy pupils capital fund to improve pupils’ access to facilities for physical activity, healthy eating, mental health and wellbeing and medical conditions.

The Equality Act (2010) requires that all schools must implement accessibility plans which include increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the curriculum, and improve the physical environment of schools to enable disabled pupils to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided. Since 2014 the department has funded a grant to ensure pupils with special educational needs and disabilities have improved opportunities to take part in PE and school sport.