§ Mr. ReedTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what research his Department has undertaken into the number of hours per week spent on physical education in schools since 1 May 1997; [108294]
(2) what assessment he has made of the amount of competitive sport played in schools; and if he will make a statement; [108295]
(3) what figures he requires from local education authorities on the amount of sport and PE taking place in schools. [108296]
§ Jacqui SmithOFSTED collects information about the percentage of taught time for each subject when inspecting schools. The number of school hours spent on physical education varies from school to school. Evidence from OFSTED inspections during 1998 of the average number of hours per week primary and secondary schools currently spend teaching National Curriculum PE is given below.
Average hours of PE per week (approximately) Key Stage 1 (ages 5–7) 1 hour 20 minutes Key Stage 2 (ages 7–11) 1 hour 35 minutes Key Stage 3 (ages 11–14) 2 hours Key Stage 4 (ages 14–16) 1 hour 15 minutes We have set an aspiration that all schools should provide two hours of curricular or extra curricular activities a week, and my officials are meeting regularly with DCMS and representatives of PE and sports organisations to discuss ways of promoting this aspiration in schools.