Recommendation 3

HM Government Deferred

The Government partially accepts this recommendation. This Girl Can tackles the emotional barriers faced by women and girls between 14 and 60. This age bracket is the focus of the insight, creative and activation of the campaign. There is evidence to show that children (both boys and girls) of active mothers are more likely to be active in childhood and beyond. This has been built into the campaign messaging, with some women finding it easier to get active for altruistic rather than personal reasons. However, This Girl Can still wants to encourage women to prioritise their own needs, rather than getting active being something women do for their family. Anecdotally, we know that This Girl Can has been used in primary schools to discuss stereotypes and encourage mothers and fathers to help their daughters get active and recognise the barriers they face. However, tackling early years stereotypes was not an original objective of the This Girl Can campaign and therefore there is no impact evaluation available to support this. Studio You which was launched by Sport England in 2021 and has seen registrations from over 50% of secondary schools in England–1,996 out of 3,444. The platform is estimated to have reached over 150,000 secondary school-aged girls. The online platform is a library of non-competitive and non-traditional activities designed to give 11 to 16 year old girls a more positive experience of PE. The platform is free for all schools and PE teachers in England. Studio You features classes in activities such as yoga, boxing, Pilates, and dance. Sport England is content to work with DfE to support more schools to utilise Studio You. In July 2023, the Department for Education published an update to the cross-Government School Sport and Activity Action Plan (SSAAP). The action plan covers academic years 2023/24 and 2024/25. The action plan update has been developed alongside the Government’s sport strategy Get Active. The strategy sets an ambition that children should meet the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines that all children and young people should take part in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes every day. Children with special educational needs and disabilities should take part in a minimum of 20 minutes of daily activity. With a target of getting 1 million more children active by 2030. There are no current plans to update the School Sport and Activity Action Plan (SSAAP), therefore DfE does not accept this part of the recommendation. The Government is, however, committed to ensuring that all pupils have equal access to PE and sport and 8 Health barriers for girls and women in sport: Government and Sport England responses recognise that enjoyment is a key driver of participation. The Government is supporting schools through new, non-statutory guidance which was published in March 2024. The non- statutory guidance exemplifies practice from primary, secondary, special, and alternative provision settings to embed PE and school sport into the school ethos and culture. It also demonstrates school approaches to timetabling at least 2 hours of curriculum PE, school approaches to ensuring a high level of uptake in extracurricular sport and physical activity as well as delivering equal opportunity to access PE and extracurricular sport programmes. The guidance references the “enjoyment gap” which is pronounced in key stage 4 and supports schools to deliver engaging and high-quality PE to girls and boys across all four key stages. The Department for Education has invested in the addition of equality criteria for the School Games Mark, which is delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, where schools will be encouraged and recognised for providing equal access for girls. From September 2023, schools must demonstrate how they are overcoming gender barriers faced by girls and boys in PE and wider school sport as part of their planning and delivery. The Department for Education committed in March 2023 to fund over £600 million across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. The PE and Sport Premium is a funding commitment to improve the quality of PE and sports in primary schools to help all children benefit from regular physical activity. The Department for Education has also committed to fund up to £57 million to deliver phase three of the Opening School Facilities programme. This programme allows schools to open their sport facilities outside of the core school hours. The programme targets schools in lower socio-economic areas to improve access to sport for the children and the wider community. The intention is for this to increase access for children with low participation levels. Furthermore, physical activity in early years was a headline topic at the National Physical Activity Taskforce (NPAT) in March 2024. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) presented a paper to the group on the importance of the Government meeting its shared health