In July 2023 the Department published an update to the school sport and activity action plan, which will support teachers and schools to deliver two hours of high quality physical education (PE) and provide competitive and extracurricular opportunities to all pupils.

The primary PE and sport premium supports all primary schools to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the PE, physical activity and sport they offer, complemented by a wide range of extracurricular sport and competitive opportunities. The Department has announced over £600 million across the 2023/23 and 2024/25 academic years for the premium, along with £22 million for the school games organiser network.

New, non-statutory guidance will be published by the end of 2023. This aims to communicate a range of approaches to all schools for successfully delivering a minimum of 2 hours PE per week, equality of access to PE and extracurricular school sport and competition using examples from different types of schools and locations.

The Department is funding up to £57 million to deliver phase three of the Opening School Facilities programme, which allows schools to open their sports facilities outside of the core school day to provide more extracurricular opportunities for pupils and communities to play sport and be physically active. The programme is targeted where the funding will have the most positive impact, including for girls, disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and disabilities and other groups who have lower participation levels in sport.

The Department is also investing up to £289 million to support local authorities and providers in England to introduce or expand childcare provision for primary school aged children as part of the national wraparound childcare programme. This could include the use of Ofsted registered childcare providers that specialise in sports provision and physical activities.

In July 2023, the Department published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan, which will support teachers and schools to deliver two hours of high quality physical education (PE) and to provide competitive and extracurricular opportunities to pupils in all areas of England.

The Department has announced over £600 million of funding across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years for the Primary PE and Sport Premium, along with £22 million of funding for the School Games Organiser network.

The Department is funding up to £57 million to deliver phase three of the Opening School Facilities programme, which allows schools to open their sports facilities outside of the core school day to provide more extracurricular opportunities for pupils and communities to play sport and be physically active. The programme targets groups who have lower participation levels in sport, where funding will have the most positive impact. 1,419 schools across England have already signed up to deliver the programme, including 16 schools in Cumbria.

The Department is continuing to work with the Daily Mile and Sport England to support more nurseries and schools to take up the Daily Mile. Currently over 8,000 nurseries and schools in England are signed up to take part. Nearly £2 million of public funding has been committed from Sport England, between 2018 and 2024 to increase participation and build sustainable partnerships. The Department does not provide funding to the Daily Mile Foundation and there are no plans to do so.

Wearable devices often provide real-time feedback to the user, including step counts, heart rate, and calories burned, and it is this type of feedback that can promote increased self- awareness and drive motivation to maintain or increase physical activity levels.

Research suggests that the consistent use of wearable devices can help to establish healthier routines and habits, leading to sustained physical activity. However, effectiveness varies based on individual factors, design considerations, and alignment with users' motivations and preferences.

No discussions have been held directly with manufacturers on this matter.

The Department has been working alongside The Daily Mile and Sport England to support more nurseries and schools to take up The Daily Mile. Officials will continue to work with The Daily Mile to understand how the initiative is being delivered in schools, including through their research and insight projects.

We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity.

As part of this strategy, we have set up a new National Physical Activity Taskforce to ensure we meet these targets, and will work closely with Sport England to track and measure the impact of our interventions. This will include measuring the progress made in tackling inactivity annually through the Active Lives Children survey, and in real time by seeking new sources of data that allow us to monitor progress.

We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity.

As part of this strategy, we have set up a new National Physical Activity Taskforce to ensure we meet these targets, and will work closely with Sport England to track and measure the impact of our interventions. This will include measuring the progress made in tackling inactivity annually through the Active Lives Children survey, and in real time by seeking new sources of data that allow us to monitor progress.

Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport. In July we published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This builds on the announcement we made in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport and guidance on how to deliver 2 hours of quality PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser network.

The Department for Education will be introducing a new digital tool to support schools with their reporting requirements for their PE and sport premium spend. This will hold schools accountable for how they use their PE and sport premium funding allocation to measure and improve the quality of PE and sport they provide.

We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity.

As part of this strategy, we have set up a new National Physical Activity Taskforce to ensure we meet these targets, and will work closely with Sport England to track and measure the impact of our interventions. This will include measuring the progress made in tackling inactivity annually through the Active Lives Children survey, and in real time by seeking new sources of data that allow us to monitor progress.

Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport. In July we published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This builds on the announcement we made in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport and guidance on how to deliver 2 hours of quality PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser network.

The Department for Education will be introducing a new digital tool to support schools with their reporting requirements for their PE and sport premium spend. This will hold schools accountable for how they use their PE and sport premium funding allocation to measure and improve the quality of PE and sport they provide.

The Department has been working alongside The Daily Mile and Sport England to support more nurseries and schools to take up the Daily Mile. Sport England has committed nearly £2 million of public funding between 2018 and 2024 to increase participation and build sustainable partnerships. Currently over 8,000 nurseries and schools in England are signed up to take part.

The Department has promoted the Daily Mile to Early Years settings through the Department’s Foundation Years website. Local Authority Holiday Activity and Food programme (HAF) coordinators and providers have received information through webinars and weekly newsletters on the Daily Mile, highlighting the programme to provide physical activity in HAF clubs.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has highlighted the Daily Mile within ‘Get Active’, the Government’s new sport strategy, as a successful programme to raise physical activity levels of pupils. The strategy was published in August and introduces an ambition that all pupils should meet the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines on physical activity, supported by a target of over 1 million more active pupils by 2030.

Tackling economic inactivity due to long-term sickness is a top priority for the Government. The Occupational Health: Working Better consultation was announced alongside the Chancellor’s £2 billion package at the Spring Budget 2023 to support disabled people and those living with health conditions to succeed in work.

The consultation recognises the role of Occupational Health in supporting employee health and wellbeing and it seeks to drive an ambitious increase in Occupational Health coverage.

We cannot pre-empt the outcome of the consultation by specifying interventions that will be included as the consultation is ongoing. Following its conclusion on 12 October, responses will be analysed and policy options will be developed.

The provision of recreational and fitness facilities in each force is a matter for the Chief Constable and Police and Crime Commissioner in England and Wales.

While the health, safety and wellbeing of the police workforce is primarily the responsibility for the leaders in each force, this government is determined that no member of the police workforce should suffer detriment as a result of their job. That is why we have introduced the Police Covenant and continue to work with policing partners to ensure the workforce gets the right support and protection.

We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity.

Building on their 12 local delivery pilot areas, Sport England is expanding their place-based work so that at least 75% of their investment is committed to areas with the lowest levels of physical activity and social outcomes.

Sport England are using a range of data sources to inform this approach including physical activity data from the Active Lives Surveys as well as wider social data including IMD, community need and health inequalities data. These datasets help to identify a range of diverse communities, including rural communities, across England that need support to become more active.

There are no plans to make a specific assessment. The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines recommend that adults, including those aged 65 and over, should aim to be physically active every day and accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week. Moderate intensity physical activity means getting the heart rate up and breathing faster. This can include brisk walking.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’s (OHID) ‘Better Health’ programme offers a number of free, accessible and evidence-based resources to support adults and young people to be more active. This includes the NHS Active 10 app, which encourages adults to incorporate brisk walking into their days to improve their general health and wellbeing without the need for gyms or expensive fitness programmes. The app supports and motivates users to increase and monitor the intensity of their walking, rather than just focus on the distance or number of steps throughout the day. Just 10 minutes of brisk walking a day is an easy way for adults to introduce more moderate intensity physical activity into their day.

To support more individuals to reach a brisk walking pace and to achieve moderate intensity activity, OHID have just launched a new feature within the NHS Active 10 app, called ‘Pace Checker’. The feature helps walkers to find their brisk walking pace of 100 or more steps per minute, and motivates them to complete more Active 10s every day.

Government recognises that having space for sport and recreation is essential for our physical and mental health. The Government's National Planning Policy Framework sets an expectation that when local authorities are making planning decisions, they should enable the retention and development of sports venues, ensure new development can be integrated effectively with sports clubs, and aim to achieve places that are safe, inclusive and accessible which enable healthy lifestyles, including through the provision of sports facilities.