Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by David Evennett (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 17 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Sports and Arts Participation

Question: I noted the Minister's original response, but is she not concerned that participation in sport among older children and teenagers is particularly low? Only 67 per cent. of pupils in year 10 and 63 per cent. in year 11 participate in the two hours of physical activity each week. What more can be done to encourage them to participate more?

Answer: It is important to recognise that there is a huge increase in the number of young people of all ages doing sport compared with six years ago when we first started this programme. There is a particular issue with pupils at key stage 4, and there is pressure on the curriculum, particularly when pupils are doing their GCSEs. We should note, however, that, overall, participation has risen among those pupils and that they have also achieved better GCSE results —so these aims are not actually in competition with each other.

Secondary information