Water Safety Education

Opened the debate

I am concerned about the increasing number of child drownings in recent years, particularly with a 46% increase in 2022 against the five-year average. The National Child Mortality Database reported that the risk of drowning is twice as high among children from poorer backgrounds and three and a half times higher for those from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. Additionally, only 71% of Year 7 pupils can swim 25 metres, representing a fall of 6.3% compared to five years ago. Catherine West is concerned about the decline in swimming proficiency among children since the pandemic, with a significant number of pools closing. She highlighted that while 90% of affluent children can swim 25 metres by years 7 to 8, only 53% of children from low-income families and 56-80% of black and Asian children have similar proficiency. She noted the importance of access to water facilities for school swimming opportunities and pointed out that London Boroughs like Haringey face a shortage in publicly available pools.

Government Response

It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Stringer. I congratulate the hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead on securing this important debate. I commend him and the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green for their contributions and for their wider work in the all-party parliamentary group. I also welcome, as ever, the contribution from our mutual friend, the hon. Member for Strangford. All children should know how to swim and keep themselves safe in and around water. Schools can play a really important role in ensuring that they are taught vital skills and knowledge, such as the water safety code. Some 91% of primary schools surveyed in 2023 reported that they were providing swimming and/or water safety lessons to their pupils, but we recognise that there is more to do to increase from the current level the number of children who are able to swim. Data from the last academic year show that 70.5% of year 7 children—the first year of secondary school—reported that they can swim 25 metres unaided. The national curriculum for physical education states that by the time they leave primary school, children should be able to perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations, in addition to swimming a minimum of 25 metres unaided and performing a range of strokes. Water safety guidance for schools published by Swim England recommends that primary age pupils should be taught about the water safety code, beach flags and cold water shock. It also recommends pupils be taught about survival skills, such as floatation, treading water, energy conservation and how to signal for help. Secondary schools are free to organise and deliver a diverse and challenging PE curriculum that suits the needs of all their pupils. While there is no statutory requirement on secondary schools to provide swimming and water safety lessons, the secondary PE curriculum provides clear guidance. In July 2023, we published an update to the school sport and activity action plan encouraging schools to teach pupils practical swimming and water safety techniques in a pool and to complement that with classroom lessons. The Department announced last year that we will be introducing a new digital PE and sport premium reporting tool capturing detail on how schools have used their funding including their swimming and water safety attainment data. We are piloting the digital tool this summer, when schools will have the option of completing it prior to it becoming mandatory for schools to complete in academic year 2024-25. Swimming and being near water can bring benefits for all children, which is why we are supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities to learn to swim and learn about water safety. The Department's opening school facilities programme is spending up to £57 million to help schools to open their sport facilities outside the core school day, including on weekends and holidays. As of April 2024, the programme has supported more than 220 schools to open their pools to more users for longer. The programme is targeted towards the least active children and young people. A pool can be a valuable asset for a school and help to ensure access for all pupils regardless of background. We welcome the efforts to find new ways to overcome barriers to providing high-quality swimming and water safety lessons, particularly for children who may have less access to swimming than others. The hon. Lady makes a very important point about equality of access. We are very conscious of that when we talk about safety in particular; this is about not just sporting participation, but children's safety. It is important that we seek to present that opportunity to everybody. It is our ambition to make swimming up to a certain standard available to everybody in primary school, and that is what we will continue to do.