© GETTY IMAGESChildren's sport will be prioritised when lockdown eases - GETTY IMAGES
The Government is making plans for children's sport to follow schools in being a national priority when lockdown measures are eased.
Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, has said that he will be making the argument to cabinet that "kids' sport should be the last one into the lockdown and the first out" as talks now accelerate over which measures can be lifted next month.
Telegraph Sport's Keep Kids Active campaign specifically called on the Government to restart children's sport at the earliest opportunity and, in a clear sign that the route out of lockdown will be rather different from last summer, priority will be given to young people's physical activity.
The plan is still for a phased reopening, with outdoor sports to begin first but also an additional £10 million in funding for schools to make sports facilities available outside of teaching times. The operators of gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools are also in talks with the Government and, after being behind the hospitality sector during the reopening last summer, will argue that they should be treated as "essential services" for the health of the nation.
With children's activity levels having fallen during the first lockdown, there is acute concern that their fitness and well-being will have plummeted even further following another prolonged period out of school and the closure of sporting activities.
The Government has indicated that it is also willing to introduce a formal measure of schools, backed by Ofsted, for their provision of sport, physical activity and well-being. This has been advocated by the Youth Sports Trust, which wants "a national recovery term" when schools fully reopen that prioritises physical activity and time spent outdoors.
They have also called for a national action plan to tackle an activity crisis that means less than half of young people were meeting daily recommended activity levels even before the Covid-19 pandemic.
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