Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking alongside Staffordshire County Council to ensure that more girls and young women take up sport at secondary schools in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Our focus is on ensuring that children and young people have equal opportunities to participate in high-quality PE, sports and physical activities and our new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network will be focused on engaging children who are less likely to be active, including girls.

The department held a market engagement event for the new Network on 7 May 2026, and will be releasing further details in due course prior to starting the procurement for a partner to deliver the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network.

We know that PE kits and barriers around changing facilities can affect girls’ participation in physical education, particularly in teenage years. The department’s non-statutory guidance on school uniform has been updated to include new content on PE kits.