Rishi Sunak has said that if he becomes the next prime minister, he will ask Ofsted to assess the quality of physical education in every school inspection it carries out.
The former chancellor has also vowed to continue the PE and Sports Premium but said he wants to tighten the guidance on how it can be spent.
He has made the policy pledges in a letter to the chief executives of some of the country’s major sporting organisations as he battles for the leadership of the Conservative Party with Liz Truss.
The Tory leadership hopeful was responding to a letter from chief executives of the Football Association, the Rugby Football League, British Tennis, England Rugby, and The England and Wales Cricket Board last week.
In their letter, they said that sporting opportunities for young people within and outside of school needed greater focus, and they suggested to Mr Sunak that Ofsted could play an increased role.
They said: “Sport teaches young people vital life and teamwork skills, so it is important we see more progress on ensuring that every child can take part in sport in and out of school for an hour every day, as the chief medical officer recommends.
“We would also welcome Ofsted having a greater remit on school sport to help drive up standards and accountability.”
In his response, Mr Sunak has said: “As prime minister, I would continue the PE and Sport Premium, which I supported as chancellor. But this £320 million can deliver much more than it currently is. So, working with your organisations and others, I would tighten up the guidance for primary schools on how the premium should be spent.
“For both primary and secondary schools, I’d ask Ofsted to assess the quality of PE and the provision of sport in every school inspection to make sure children are developing good physical literacy and getting a rich array of sporting opportunities.”
Mr Sunak also said he would make sure that funding “going to schools for sports facilities leads to more after-school sports clubs and opportunities for the local community to play sport out of hours; great for parents and great for kids”.
Ofsted’s current education inspection framework sees the inspectorate assess the quality of education through a series of deep dives into specific subjects.
Data from more than 2,000 inspections carried out in 2019-20, when the framework first launched, showed that PE was chosen as a subject for a deep dive in 15 per cent of secondary school inspections at schools and 17 per cent of inspections at primary schools.
Earlier this year, Ofsted published a research review into the teaching of PE.
Chief inspector Amanda Spielman said that for many pupils “the two hours of school PE each week are their only structured physical activity”.
There have also been calls from members of the House of Lords to make PE a core subject.
The Committee on a National Plan for Sport and Recreation suggested earlier this year that PE should have the same weight as English, maths and science on the curriculum.
However, school leaders told Tes that they were concerned about how such plans could be fitted into the existing school timetable.
