James Sunderland intervenes in a general debate on sport in schools and communities to ask the Government to ensure that the annual sports premium is announced earlier so that schools, teachers and clubs can plan ahead for the forthcoming year.
James Sunderland
The active lives survey published recently showed that in Bracknell only 41% of children are classed as being active. We are not entirely sure why that is; we are working with schools to try to remedy the issue, and with the fantastic sporting facilities in schools locally I am confident that we will do so. One issue raised by teachers is that the annual sports premium is only ever announced late in the financial year. Will Minister please make sure that we get early notification of that funding so that schools, teachers and clubs can plan ahead for the forthcoming year?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Stuart Andrew)
This is the moment where I am glad that my right hon. Friend the Schools Minister is sitting by my side, so he can hear those messages and take them back to his Department. To be fair, he is already aware of those issues and will consider them when future announcements are made.