Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase the number of hours spent teaching PE in state funded schools.

Physical education is an important part of a broad and balanced curriculum and should be taught to pupils of all ages. That is why it is the only foundation subject compulsory through all stages of the national curriculum. It is for schools to decide how much time should be dedicated to physical education and the department does not set specific expectations.

The department has invested £1.6 billion in primary PE and sport since 2013 through the PE and Sport Premium, and taken a range of actions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Health and Social Care to deliver on our School Sport and Activity Action Plan, which we will be updating next year. The department is also working to deliver on the nearly £30 million announced in October towards improving and opening school sport facilities in England, as well as to improve the teaching of physical education at primary school.