Schoolchildren in Wales are to be given more support to encourage healthy lifestyles and hopefully ward off future health problems.

Education Minister Jane Davidson revealed on Wednesday that an extra �5m was being directed towards school sport and physical education facilities.

Pupils are leading sedentary lives

The funding comes on top of the �48m made available to schools in Wales by the New Opportunities Fund, and the annual investment of �4m by the Sports Council for Wales in school sport.

Ms Davidson said the additional money reinforced the Welsh Assembly Government's commitment to improving health and fitness levels.

One of the assembly's aims is that schools should provide two hours a week PE for every pupil, and it has also pledged to help raise the profile of sport in schools and local communities.

The new funding will help set up PE and School Sport Development Centres in all areas of Wales.

Training opportunities

The centres will allow primary and secondary schools to join with colleges, sports clubs, and leisure centres to share best practice and facilities.

The Sports Council will also be leading work to look at ways of improving opportunities for teachers to train in physical education.

"We are looking to ensure that all young people have the opportunity at school to develop their physical skills and improve their understanding of the importance of health and fitness," Ms Davidson said.

The first �1m of the new money will be distributed in 2003-04, with a further �1.5m in 2004-05, and the remaining �2.5m in 2005-06.

More exercise is being urged

Funds will be distributed through the assembly's partner in school sport, the Sports Council for Wales, in accordance with an action plan drawn up by the PE and School Sport (PESS) Task Force in June 2001.

So far, 10 PESS development centres have been set up - in Caerphilly, Carmarthen, Ceredigion, Monmouth, Newport, Bridgend, Gwynedd Wrexham, Flintshire, and Denbighshire - with an aim to establish another eight by April 2003.

The assembly government's determination to improving sports facilities is part of a UK-wide drive to see schoolchildren living fitter and healthier lives.

One in three children is overweight, and the number of overweight teenagers is said to have doubled in the last 20 years.

Some doctors are concerned that young people may even be out-lived by their parents as a matter of routine.

Health experts have also noticed an alarming rise in the number of child cases of type 2 diabetes - a condition commonly associated with middle aged patients.

In July, the UK Government announced that school playing fields in England were being offered extra protection, with new laws to protect open spaces from being sold off for development.

The new legislation was designed to make it harder for developers to build without gaining the permission of Sport England.

In future, developers will have to consult the organisation if they want to build on land measuring 0.2 hectares or more.

The legislation also provides guidelines to local authorities about providing space and sports facilities for communities.