All successful Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) applicants, including those who receive funding for healthy pupil initiatives through the CIF 2018 to 2019 round, are required to submit project monitoring returns at quarterly intervals throughout the course of the project. In some cases, this will be at monthly intervals informing the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) of project spend and delivery. Failure to do so results in further instalments being withheld.

All successful projects are also required to submit a completion return providing evidence of the completion of the works and the total project spend. Any changes to the project, including significant delays, changes to the scope of work or the level of funding are required to be approved by the ESFA via a scope change request.

We will publish the number of successful applications, the names of the successful schools and sixth-form colleges and a brief description of the successful project on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund in April 2018.

We welcome the All-Party Parliamentary Group on a fit and healthy childhood’s report on “Physical activity in early childhood” which provides a valuable contribution to the debate as we continue to deliver our world-leading Childhood Obesity Plan.

Physical activity is a key part of our plan and has an important role in maintaining and improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people. We continue to invest in school sport through programmes such as the primary PE and sport premium, School Games, and Change4Life Sports Clubs, to encourage children to be active.

Local authorities are being given over £16 billion to spend on public health over the five years of the 2015 Spending Review. We know that many are prioritising action to tackle obesity and increase physical activity according to their local need.

Public Health England has developed “Everybody Active Every Day”, a national implementation framework for physical activity. This will support increased physical activity in local communities by: focussing across the whole life-course; consolidating evidence and providing a structured approach; and enabling local and national organisations to work together.

We are aware of a number of active mile programmes working with schools. Active miles are an excellent opportunity for schools to support their pupils to be physically active throughout the school day.

Officials have met with representatives from active mile providers and will continue to discuss good practice. This will ensure that active mile programmes can best meet the needs of schools and enable pupils to be physically active throughout the school day.

The government has worked with physical education (PE) and school sport partners to identify good practice examples for the PE and Sport Premium. They have been published on the Teaching blog at:

https://teaching.blog.gov.uk/category/pe-and-sport-premium/.

The government has doubled the primary PE and Sport Premium to £320 million a year from September 2017. Updated guidance was published in October 2017 and case studies were published via the Teaching blog site on GOV.UK.

We welcome the All-Party Parliamentary Group on a fit and healthy childhood’s report on “Physical activity in early childhood” which provides a valuable contribution to the debate as we continue to deliver our world-leading Childhood Obesity Plan.

Physical activity is a key part of our plan and has an important role in maintaining and improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people. We continue to invest in school sport through programmes such as the primary PE and sport premium, School Games, and Change4Life Sports Clubs, to encourage children to be active.

Local authorities are being given over £16 billion to spend on public health over the five years of the 2015 Spending Review. We know that many are prioritising action to tackle obesity and increase physical activity according to their local need.

Public Health England has developed “Everybody Active Every Day”, a national implementation framework for physical activity. This will support increased physical activity in local communities by: focussing across the whole life-course; consolidating evidence and providing a structured approach; and enabling local and national organisations to work together.

Public Health England uses a range of approaches to encourage people to be more physically active through its social marketing campaigns Change4Life and One You. The recent Active 10 physical activity campaign was supported by a mobile phone app to encourage ten minute bouts of walking and has been downloaded over 400,000 times.

The NHS England Healthy New Towns programme, one of the ‘Five Year Forward View’ innovation programmes, launched in July 2015, is working with ten new housing developments across England to deliver a range of innovative interventions and implement best practice to co-create with local communities new places which promote health and wellbeing.

Many veterans with psychological injuries carry out physical activity as part of their rehabilitation process, but some report that they are being sanctioned because of this. Will the Secretary of State give his guarantee that the Government will no longer sanction recovering veterans?

I will look at the facts of the case, but I cannot make a blanket commitment, because one obviously has to look at the particular circumstances. Of course, we recognise and support our veterans at every opportunity.

Public Health England uses a range of approaches to encourage people to be more physically active. Its social marketing campaigns Change4Life and Active 10, the recent One You physical activity campaign, was supported by a mobile phone app to encourage 10 minute bouts of walking and has been downloaded over 400,000 times.

The NHS England Healthy New Towns programme, one of the ‘Five Year Forward View’ innovation programmes, launched in July 2015, is working with 10 new housing developments across England to deliver a range of innovative interventions and implement best practice to co-create with local communities new places which promote health and wellbeing.

The government wants all pupils to be healthy and active, which is why PE remains a compulsory subject at all four stages of the national curriculum, and why we are doubling funding for the PE and Sport Premium to £320m a year.

We know that children’s levels of physical activity can drop off over the summer holidays, and there are a number of initiatives under way across Government to improve levels of physical activity in children outside of school.

These include a new £40 million investment from Sport England into projects which offer opportunities for families with children to get active and play sport together outside school, and the Change4Life programme which aims to inspire everyone to eat well, move more and live longer.

Schools may also choose to use their PE and Sport Premium funding to provide extra-curricular activities for pupils during school holidays.

Government remains committed to establishing a network of employers in line with the recommendation set out in Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation. We are working with Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions to move this forward and hope to be able to make an announcement on this shortly.

DCMS ministers and officials have regular meetings with their HMT counterparts on a range of issues, including on matters regarding physical activity. Following a consultation in summer 2016, Corporation Tax (CT) relief for contributions to grassroots sports will be expanded from 1 April 2017. This measure will make it easier for CT payers to receive a deduction for contributions to grassroots sports, thereby encouraging sports participation at a local level, and reducing administrative burdens for some organisations which currently make contributions to grassroots sports.

In 2016, Public Health England (PHE) launched a mobile app in partnership with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Get Inspired, based on NHS Choices’ Couch to 5K web site. The method of evaluating the effect and value for money of the Couch to 5K app in England involves tracking the number of downloads and conducting qualitative research.

The app has received more than 500,000 downloads since launch¹. The feedback from users is positive with many referencing the voice-over from popular coaches being especially motivating.

The app does not record mobile sensor data and there is no historical app data available to compare pre and post usage.

The app has been especially designed for people who have done little or no running. We hold no information on the activities of running clubs in relation to the Couch to 5K programme.

¹ Source: Google Analytics

In 2007 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) produced the best practice clinical guideline, Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): Diagnosis and management of CFS/ME in adults and children. The guideline, last reviewed in 2013, sets out best practice on the diagnosis, treatment care and support of children and adults with CFS/ME and supports local National Health Service commissioners and clinicians in the delivery of services.

The NICE guideline makes recommendations on the use of Graded Exercise Therapy (GET) in patients mildly or moderately affected by CFS/ME. GET is a structured exercise programme designed to gradually increase how long someone can carry out a physical activity. It should be tailored to a person's current level of activities and should be delivered only by a suitably trained GET therapist with experience in CFS/ME under appropriate clinical supervision. The guideline also acknowledges that there is no one form of treatment to suit every patient and that treatment and care should take into account the personal needs and preferences of the patient. The guideline can be found at the following link:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg53/resources/chronic-fatigue-syndromemyalgic-encephalomyelitis-or-encephalopathy-diagnosis-and-management-pdf-975505810885

To ensure its recommendations reflect the latest available evidence, NICE is currently reviewing its guidance to see if an update is required. A decision is expected shortly.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to PQ 68370 from the Member for Crewe and Nantwich, the Minister for Children and Families. School sport is a matter for the Department of Education.

The Chief Medical Officer recommends that all children aged five-18 should get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day.

The Government published a Childhood Obesity Plan for Action in August 2016, which can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action

This plan states that for all primary school children, at least 30 minutes of physical activity should be delivered in school every day through active break times, Physical Education, extra curricular clubs, active lessons or other sport and physical activity events. Schools have the freedom to decide how to meet this expectation and which programmes, such as The Daily Mile, they choose to adopt.

The Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan sets out a range of actions to promote physical activity in primary school aged children.

In terms of advice to parents, Change4Life is Public Health England’s flagship social marketing programme aiming to inspire a social movement, through which government, the National Health Service, local authorities, businesses, charities, schools, families and community leaders could all play a part in helping children to eat well and move more and specifically that children need 60 minutes of physical activity each day.

Change4Life Sports Clubs are specifically targeted at the least active young people. They are run as extracurricular clubs held at lunchtimes and after school and use sport as a vehicle to promote physical activity, health and wellbeing.