Ali Oliver, CEO of the Youth Sport Trust charity, told MPs that the decrease in activity levels would have consequences “for all manner of things” including a child’s cognitive development and long-term health, as she called on PE to be made a core subject in schools.
Britain has 7,000 fewer PE teachers than when London hosted the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, MPs have been told, while 30% of children are now doing less than 30 minutes of any physical activity, including walking, a day.
The shocking figures were spelt out in the first session of the digital culture, media and sport committee’s ongoing inquiry into the challenges provision of sport for children and young people – and what can be done to arrest the decline in activity levels.
Meanwhile another Olympian, the swimmer Anna Hopkin, who won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games as part of the mixed 4x100m medley relay team, told MPs that schools should not shy away from the competitive side of sport.
“As a coach, I want to see young people have the basic physical literacy of being able to catch a ball at a certain age – in the same way you’d expect someone to be able to read at a certain age,” she said.
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