§ Lord Pendryasked Her Majesty's Government:
What they are doing to encourage greater participation in physical activity in the playground during lunch and playtime in schools. [HL1469]
§ Baroness Ashton of UphollandThe Government are investing more than £1 billion in England to transform physical education (PE), school sport and club links. The funding will help to deliver an ambitious public service agreement target, shared with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to increase the percentage of five to 16 year-olds who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high-quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent by 2006. The strategy includes encouraging schools to use lunch and playtimes more effectively to promote greater physical activity through more structured activities. For example, the Sporting Playgrounds programme is supporting £10 million of capital investment, between April 2003 and March 2005, to enhance primary school playgrounds which will increase physical and sporting activity. Best practice in developing the use of playgrounds and break times will be published later this year to further support schools.