"Sport: Raising the Game" (Hansard, 24 July 1996)

§ Mr. Sproat

We have today published "Sport: Raising the Game—The First Year Report", which reports progress on all 38 action points set out in the sports policy statement published last July.

The report shows that real progress has been made in the past year, but it also emphasises our determination to sustain the momentum in the coming year.

In schools, a revised physical education curriculum, with greater emphasis on team games, was introduced in August 1995.

From the 1996–97 academic year, schools' annual reports and prospectuses will include information on sporting aims, provision and achievements.

In October, secondary schools, which have particularly good policies for sport, will be able to apply for a sportsmark award. The first awards will be made in April 1997.

491W

From this summer, games that are offered as part of the formal PE curriculum will be inspected and reported on by Ofsted. Inspectors will also report on extra-curricular sporting provision made by the school.

The Ofsted survey of good practice in school PE was published in December 1995, and a summary was sent to all schools in January 1996.

For the first time, Her Majesty's chief inspector's annual report in February 1996 addressed the state of both curriculum PE and extra-curricular activities and sport in schools.

Pilot "Coaching Weeks for Teachers" are under way, involving 300 to 500 teachers and trainee teachers. The aim is to mount a nationwide programme in 1997–98.

Schools can claim up to 80 per cent. of the costs of a new facility from the lottery sports fund for projects linked with their communities and sports clubs.

A £2 million challenge fund, to promote links between schools and clubs, has been established by the Sports Council. Applications will be invited from schools, clubs and governing bodies of sport this October.

From 5 August, following concern that too many school, and other, playing fields had been sold off, the Sports Council will be a statutory consultee for planning applications affecting playing fields.

Under the Sports Council's priority areas initiative, announced earlier this year, up to 90 per cent. lottery funding is now available for projects in defined areas of recreational and social deprivation.

The Further Education Funding Council published a report last month focusing on good sporting practice in further education colleges.

The Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals and the Standing Conference of Principals will be publishing an audit of higher education sports facilities and provision in the autumn.

The report of the working group on university sports scholarships, chaired by Sir Roger Bannister, was published last month. The report highlights the increasing importance of the higher education sector in providing opportunities for the development of sporting excellence. Its main recommendation is that increased investment in talented sports men and women attending university, through lottery-funded sports scholarships, is an essential step in ensuring the development of our sporting elite.

Details of the Government's proposals for the British academy of sport, as the pinnacle of a regional network of centres of sporting excellence and academies of particular sports, are included in the bid prospectus which is published today. Bidders have until 31 October to submit their bids, and it is hoped that a final decision will be reached by the end of January 1997.

The first year report also reports on the restructuring of the sports councils, the very successful first year of the lottery sports fund, the launch in March 1996 of the national junior sport programme, and on initiatives taken 492W by governing bodies of sport and local authorities relating to school sport.

I have today placed copies of "Sport: Raising the Game—The First Year Report" in the Libraries of the House.