Government 'committed' to four hours of sport in the school week

Baroness Verma (Conservative) had tabled the following question in the Lords:

What steps they intend to take to implement the Chancellor of the Exchequer's pledge on 25 October that every child will have at least four hours of sport within the school curriculum by 2010; and
What is meant by the term "sport" in the context of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's commitment on 25 October to ensure that every child will have at least four hours of sport within the school curriculum by 2012.

Lord Adonis, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Schools) at the Department for Education and Skills, responded with this written answer on 21 November:

The Government are committed to increasing both the quality and quantity of PE and school sport for all pupils. Our main aim-a public service agreement target shared by DfES and DCMS-is to increase the percentage of five to 16 year-olds who take part in at least two hours high-quality PE and sport each week, within and beyond the curriculum, to 75 per cent by 2006 and on to 85 per cent by 2008. With 80 per cent of pupils in partnership schools spending at least two hours in a typical week on high-quality PE and school sport, the 2006 target has been exceeded.

The Government are delivering on this commitment through the national school sport strategy. The strategy-being implemented jointly by DfES and DCMS-went live on 1 April 2003 and is being delivered through11 interlinked work programmes:

The first two have created a national PE and school sport infrastructure by establishing a network of sports colleges and school sport partnerships. There are now 402 designated sports colleges (including14 academies with a sports focus) and 450 live school sport partnerships encompassing all maintained schools in England. The remaining work strands are the tools that the schools and partnerships use to deliver the PSA target:

Professional Development
Step Into Sport
Club Links
Gifted & Talented
Sporting Playgrounds
Swimming
Competition Managers
Coaching
QCA's PE and School Sport Investigation

Our long-term ambition is that, by 2010, all children will be offered at least four hours of sport a week. This will comprise two hours of high quality PE, and in addition the opportunity to do at least two to three hours beyond the school day, delivered by a range of school, community and club providers. Action within the national strategy beyond 2008 will be reviewed following the outcome of the next Comprehensive Spending Review.

For the purposes of the national strategy, the term "sport" means all forms of physical activity that, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels (Council of Europe's European Sports Charter 1993).

"School sport" is sport which takes place in school or is organised by a school as part of its extra-curricular or out of hours learning.