Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the number of extracurricular activities offered to pupils at state schools.

The department has published a new enrichment framework with clear benchmarks against which schools and colleges can evaluate their own offer and improve provision. Ambassadors have been appointed as experts within their areas, using their expertise to help develop and expand opportunities for young people.

The £22.5 million Enrichment Expansion Programme will work with approximately 400 schools in the most deprived areas of England to support them to meet the benchmarks set out in the enrichment framework. This is alongside a variety of governmental programmes, including upcoming PE and School Sport Partnerships and a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education, as well as National Education Nature Parks, TechYouth, the Cadet Expansion Programme, Erasmus+ and Building Equal Access to Chess in Schools.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s ‘Every Child Can’ programme will deliver £132.5 million for new activities programmes structured around the framework categories, delivered through schools, community programmes, weekend activities and holiday provision.