AUSTIN WANTS ANSWERS ABOUT DUDLEY SCHOOL SPORTS FUNDING

In a bid to get to the bottom of the impact on local schools of Government cuts to the School Sports Partnership, Dudley MP Ian Austin has written to Council leader Les Jones, asking him to complete an 11 question survey.

The Government used to conduct the surveys, known as PE and Sports Surveys itself, but they were axed earlier in the year, making it much more difficult to monitor how the Government’s cuts are affecting the number of students doing sports in school.

Austin has asked Council leader Les Jones about the number of pupils taking part in sport and the impact of the cuts on the number of sports staff employed by local schools, as well as a series of other questions.

Ian Austin MP said:

“Michael Gove’s £126 million cut from School Sports Partnerships last year risks seriously reducing opportunities for young people in Dudley to take part in sport. The SSPs had succeeded in massively increasing participation rates so that in 2010 90% of young people were taking part in 2 hours or more of PE per week.

“I’m worried that an annual cut of over 60% will leave schools sports in disarray and risk undoing the good work of the last decade in increasing the number of young people doing sport in Dudley.

“I think it’s really important that we keep an eye on how the funding cuts are affecting local schools so we can take action if we see a serious drop off in participation levels. I’ve asked Les Jones to answer a series of questions which will help us get a clearer picture of what’s going on in Dudley.”