PHYSICAL EDUCATION SPENDING CUTS IN SCHOOLS – P.E. time in secondary schools has plummeted by nearly 4,000 hours in the last year alone
In what’s being described as a ‘playground power struggle,’ we’ve learned that the Department of Health actually tried to quietly scrap its entire sixty-million-pound contribution to school sports. It was only after journalists started asking questions that ministers reportedly performed a last-minute U-turn to restore the cash.
The DHSC originally planned to end its £60 million contribution by 2026. The DfE is still reportedly looking to trim another £60 million from its own sports budget. The Prime Minister’s ‘fix-it’ man, Darren Jones, has now been called in to mediate and stop the two departments from pulling the rug out from under school P.E.
P.E. time in secondary schools has plummeted by nearly 4,000 hours in the last year alone, and the biggest drop is among 11-to-14-year-olds—the very same age group seeing the fastest rise in childhood obesity.
A recent survey found that 71% of young people actually want to be more active at school, but nearly one in five have seen their P.E. lessons cancelled this year.
The Education Secretary says she still intends to replace the old ‘sports premium’ with a new partnership network that will guarantee two hours of physical activity a week. They want to pair schools up with local sports clubs to make the money go further.
