§ 9. Charlotte Atkins (Staffordshire, Moorlands)If he will make a statement on the gender balance relating to participation in sports and on funding to encourage greater participation by girls. [110606]
§ The Minister for Sport (Kate Hoey)Sport England provides more than £6 million of Exchequer funding to sports governing bodies, and all are required to ensure that they have proposals for the development of women and girls sport as part of the condition of funding. It also funds activities specifically designed to encourage more young women and girls to take up sport.
§ Charlotte AtkinsI thank my hon. Friend for that answer. During the excellent Adjournment debate on 14 December 1999, she said that she was studying recent research into what turns young girls off physical education and sport. Does she agree that many young girls are not excited by competitive sport but, because they are image-conscious, they are interested in activities such as dance, aerobics and gym-style workouts? What is she 12 doing to transform our teenage girls from a generation of couch potatoes to young fit women with high self-esteem and confidence? Is she aware that many women look to her, as a woman, to take a lead on this important issue?
§ Kate HoeyMy hon. Friend will be aware of two recent reports into the kind of physical education and sporting activities in which young girls are likely to be interested. One, a very important joint initiative by Nike and the Youth Sport Trust, proposed a range of new, innovative ways of encouraging young girls to stay interested in physical education and sport.
A number of things can be done to make the delivery of sport and physical education more attractive to them. Much more could be done about getting young girls involved in the planning and delivery of their lessons, such as introducing different types of sports. My hon. Friend is right that at a certain age, many young women do not want to be involved in competitive team sports. The important thing is that the rest of the school's pupils are not stopped from taking part in those sports. I am keen to find ways of getting more girls and young women involved in sport. The media could do much more to project the role of women in sport rather than using some of the images that they currently employ.
§ Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate)Does the Minister agree that trends of sports participation at schools are in the wrong direction for both girls and boys, and that £6 million is a hopelessly inadequate amount of money from the Sports Council to promote sport in schools?
§ Kate HoeyOne of the most interesting things to emerge from the young people in sport national survey conducted by Sport England was that more young people are taking part in sport, not necessarily in school, but after school and linked to school. Again, schools cannot do everything. They are the bedrock and the foundation, but the link between what happens in school and after school is important. That is why so much more support is being given to after-school activities that are sport-oriented.
§ Ms Claire Ward (Watford)Is my hon. Friend aware that one issue highlighted by the Sport England report is that many schools lack the best facilities for sport on site? As a result, many children have to travel much further off-site to participate in sports, thus reducing the time available. Does she agree that, in this case, joined-up government between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education and Employment really would make things work?
§ Kate HoeyMy hon. Friend is right. Departments on their own cannot deliver good quality physical education and sport in schools. We need that joined-up thinking. That is why we made the joint appointment of Sue Campbell from the Youth Sport Trust to work across Departments—between my Department and the Department for Education and Employment. That is joined-up thinking. There are many imaginative ways to make resources go further and to do things differently; that needs joined-up thinking and that is what we are determined to do.
§ Mr. Robert Maclennan (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)Does the Minister agree that when her hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands 13 (Charlotte Atkins) dismisses a whole generation of girls as couch potatoes, she does not help to advance the provision of facilities for the young? It must primarily be the responsibility of the girls' schools—especially in deprived areas—not only to provide facilities and opportunities for sport, but to give the Government better statistics than they seem to have at present.
§ Kate HoeyIt is important that the figures for the participation of young girls are right. In many schools, participation is as high as it has ever been. A good, high-quality physical education teacher and programme play an important role and do much to ensure that young girls and young boys receive an introduction to sport that will last them through life.