HC Deb 24 February 1977 vol 926 cc665-6W
Mr. Macfarlane

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will urge local education authorities to open schools' sports facilities during out of school hours as a gesture towards Sport for All, launched by the Minister for Sport.

Miss Margaret Jackson

Opening school sports facilities out of school hours is a long-standing and well-established practice encouraged as a matter of policy by my Department for at least a decade. Local education authorities themselves are best placed to decide to what extent their educational facilities can and should be used in this way. Last year the local authority associations issued a report to number of newly qualified teachers about whom the training institutions had no information, estimates of the total numbers in each category who were available for employment but had not obtained it at the time of the survey can be constructed only by assuming that those about whom no information was available were seeking posts in the same proportions as those reported on. These figures do not cover those newly-qualified teachers who were in occupations other than teaching. Estimated totals on this basis are shown in Column 3.

authorities about the possibilities of multiple use of facilities for recreational use by the community.

Mr. Macfarlane

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement about her Department's policy towards sport and recreation for young people.

Miss Margaret Jackson

The opportunity for sport and recreation is an essential part of all educational provision. Leisure-time facilities for sport and rec. reation for young people over school age are also widely provided by the Youth Service.