§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action is being taken to increase the level of(a) curricular and (b) extra curricular sports activities in schools. [9028]
§ Mr. Timms[holding answer 23 October 2001]: The White Paper: "Schools: achieving success" sets out our commitment to physical education and school sport. We have pledged that all children will be entitled to two hours of high quality PE and school sport, within and beyond 459W the curriculum. To help deliver this, we have 333 School Sport Co-ordinators (of a total of 1,000) in place who are working to increase the quality and quantity of after-school sport and inter-school competition in their areas and to enhance links between the schools and their communities. £150 million has been committed to rebuild primary school sports and arts facilities, and a further £581 million will be used to improve both primary and secondary schools sports facilities in every local education authority.
Sport is the most popular after-school activity among pupils at Key Stages 2 and 3 (over a third of pupils involved at KS2, a quarter at KS3), and the second most frequent at Key Stage 4. £160 million is available through the New Opportunities Fund and nearly £70 million through the Standards Fund this year for study support projects, with a further £75 million available in 2002–03. We are looking at ways in which we can build on these initiatives to increase the support we give to PE and school sport within and outside the curriculum.