SNP accused of failing schools pledge over PE

Published on Saturday 24 July 2010 18:39

THE Scottish Government has been accused of "throwing in the towel" over its pledge to give children two hours of physical education a week in schools.

Labour said no assessment of progress on the manifesto commitment has been carried out since the SNP came to power three years ago.

It follows a parliamentary answer from education secretary Mike Russell, as well as figures last week which indicate only a third of schools in Scotland provide two hours of PE to all pupils.

Labour's sport spokesman Bill Butler said: "It is now clear that the SNP never had the slightest intention of fulfilling this manifesto pledge.

"Ministers could not have been serious about the implementation of that policy promise when they did not even bother to ask for it to be properly monitored and evaluated. Once again, the electorate is offered only the rather sorry spectacle of Mike Russell delivering a note asking to be excused from the SNP's PE pledge."

Russell's answer states the Scottish Government has "not routinely collected detailed statistics on the provision of PE in schools either before or since the one-off compilation of statistics in 2005."

But figures from local councils around Scotland show that two thirds of pupils are missing out on two hours of PE.

These include schools in First Minister Alex Salmond's Aberdeenshire heartland where no secondary school is currently delivering two hours of PE.

Butler added: "With the 2014 Commonwealth Games placing Scotland on the global sporting stage it is hugely disappointing that the SNP continues to fail to recognise the importance of PE in our schools, which is key to the development of our children's sporting potential."