Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the Department of Health

1. What is the Government’s vision for an Olympic and Paralympic legacy for school sports? How does this fit with the DoH’s priorities?

In March 2013, the Prime Minister said “The Olympic and Paralympic Games marked an incredible year for this country and I will always be proud that we showed the world what Britain can do. I want to ensure the Games count for the future too and that means capitalising on the inspiration young people took from what they saw during those summer months. With this new approach to sport, we can create a culture in our schools that encourages all children to be active and enjoy sport, and helps foster the aspirations of future Olympians and Paralympians. Whether that is the future Jessica Ennis, Ellie Simmonds or Mo Farah, or someone who will simply learn to love sport and exercise for a lifetime, this investment will benefit a whole generation of children for many years to come.”

School Sport is a significant part of the Olympic and Paralympic legacy to “Inspire a Generation”. The aims of the Department of Health with regard to physical activity and the aims of the legacy go hand-in-hand—namely to ensure all children and young people, particularly the least active, have opportunities to be physically active and enjoy sport.

2. How joined-up is the Government in its approach to school sports and the 2012 legacy? How has the DoH worked with other Departments to deliver the policy?

The Department of Health is working closely with other Government departments to help deliver the Olympic and Paralympic legacy through the Olympic and Paralympic Sub-committee. We are jointly funding the School Games and the School Sport funding and our investment helps to ensure that these programmes benefit all children and young people and lead to improvements in health outcomes.

3. What do you regard to be the main purpose of school sports?

School sport encompasses Physical Education, competitive sporting opportunities and physical activity. Being physically active is key to maintaining and improving health at all ages and it is crucial that all children have the opportunity to learn the skills and confidence that they require to lead active, healthy lifestyles and take part in sport throughout their lives. Excellent school sport can provide children with the skills and enthusiasm to lead active lives.

4. Do you think the current system for school sports delivers the intended benefits?

The PE curriculum provides teachers with the framework to teach children the basics of movement and coordination in their early years through to advanced sport-specific skills at secondary school. The School Games was launched in 2012 and provides a year-round programme of regular school sport competition—creating the opportunity for every school and every child to participate in competitive sport.

There is a consensus that primary schools require additional support to deliver high quality PE and sport, which is why we have provided £120m of the £300m School Sport Funding. These funds will help ensure that every state-funded primary school in England can use its ring-fenced funding to buy in a range of sustainable support, coaching, training or competition organisations, or on other PE and sport provision, as Primary Head Teachers see fit.

We know that some children are disengaged from sport and do not like taking part in PE or physical activity and we are specifically working to engage these children through the Change4Life Sports Clubs in schools. The Youth Sport Trust have established 3,000 clubs in secondary schools and over 5,000 clubs in primary schools to date and independent evaluation shows they are effectively changing attitudes and leading to increases in physical activity . In the first year of delivery in secondary schools over 10,800 “non-sporty” young people reported choosing to play sport each week after taking part in Change4Life Sports Clubs—and increase of 166%.

5. How important is competition in school sports? How does a focus on competition impact the health of young people?

Competition has a central role in school sport and in the lives of young people—it can promote important skills and characteristics such as, leadership, confidence, resilience and team-working. We do know, however, that many children are put off sport by an emphasis on competition, which is why we are investing in school sport to enable children to gain confidence and fundamental movement skills at a young age and to ensure that the School Games provides an accessible opportunity to compete in a range of sports.

6. What outcomes does the DoH hope to see from the primary sport premium funding? How does it intend to assure itself that the programme has been a good use of its funds?

The Department of Health has made a significant contribution to the School Sport funding and we hope that considered spending of the School Sport Premium by Head Teachers on programmes that work, such as the Change4Life Clubs, will lead to more children and young people, particularly those that are inactive or disengaged from sport, having increased levels of physical activity leading to improved health outcomes.

There are several accountability measures in place for the School Sport funding to ensure it is appropriately focused on PE, sport and healthy lifestyles. Schools will be held accountable for how they spend the new funding. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw has agreed to strengthen its coverage of sport and PE within the Inspectors’ handbook and supporting guidance, so that schools and inspectors are clear about how sport and PE will be assessed in future as part of the overall provision offered by the school. The health aspects of the funding are included as part of the guidance to inspectors; the revised handbook will ask inspectors to consider: “How well the school uses its new sports funding to improve the quality and breadth of its PE and sporting provision, including increasing participation in PE and sport so that all pupils develop healthy lifestyles and reach the performance levels they are capable of”.

Schools are free to spend the funding according to the particular needs of their pupils, and have been provided with a list of exemplars, including the Change4Life Sports Clubs, which we know lead to positive changes in behaviour and attitudes. We have a robust, independent evaluation in place for this programme and will ensure that we have data on the Change4Life Sport Clubs purchased by primary schools.

June 2013