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Mr. Michael J. Foster
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the time actually spent by pupils on PE at Key Stages 1 and 2. [67737]
Mr. Charles Clarke
There is no prescribed statutory minimum or maximum time which schools should devote to PE. The National Curriculum for PE consists of six areas of activity and schools have a degree of freedom in deciding which physical activities to teach and how much time should be allocated to them and to other National Curriculum subjects. PE must be taught to all children throughout their compulsory schooling.Evidence from OFSTED inspections of the number of hours per week primary and secondary schools currently spend teaching PE as follows.
| Average hours of PE per week (approx.) | |
| Key Stage 1 (ages 5–7) | 1 hour 20 minutes |
| Key Stage 2 (ages 7–11) | 1 hour 35 minutes |