A SCOTTISH government proposal to give every pupil at least two hours of physical education each week has been dropped after councils refused to implement the target.

The Scottish National party made the policy a priority to tackle childhood obesity and pledged to “ensure that every pupil has two hours of quality PE each week delivered by specialist PE teachers”.

However, ministers have now been forced to replace the pledge with a vaguer commitment to “help create healthy, fit and active children”.

The climbdown came after none of Scotland's 32 councils achieved the target. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) confirmed resources were not an issue. Instead councils objected “on principle” to central government interference in the school curriculum.

Currently, primary pupils receive an average of 94 minutes of physical education every week, falling to 91 minutes at secondary school.

South Ayrshire and Orkney provide the least physical activity for their primary pupils, averaging only about an hour every week. At secondary level, Orkney, Aberdeenshire, Western Isles and Edinburgh are the worst performers, offering fewer than 70 minutes exercise.

Only East Renfrewshire gives its primary pupils two hours of PE every week; however, the council has failed to meet the target for secondary schools.

Ministers decided not to include the commitment in the government's PE Curriculum For Excellence document, to be unveiled next month, following discussions with local authorities.

Last week obesity campaigners said the government had missed a vital opportunity to tackle soaring obesity levels among children.

One in six boys and one in seven girls is now obese and Scotland is the second fattest nation in the world behind America. The cost to the Scottish NHS of treating obesity is estimated at more than £170m a year.

“It's funny how targets are deemed unhelpful when it becomes clear that they're not being met,” said Dr Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum. “This is a salutary lesson in how politicians trumpet pledges at election time then drop them like hot potatoes when it comes to actually implementing them.”

Waine added that urgent action was needed to tackle the obesity epidemic in Scotland by focusing on the increasingly sedentary lifestyle of children.

“Physically, Scotland is in critical condition. Childhood obesity means there is an enormous number of youngsters whose health will be severely compromised in the future,” he said.

“Government has a responsibility to emphasise physical exercise in the curriculum because PE lessons have a positive effect not just on pupils' weight but on their general fitness levels too.”

Rhona Brankin, the shadow education secretary, said: “Suggesting that more exercise does not lead to healthier children not only goes against expert opinion, but also common sense.”

Murdo Fraser, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, added: “Schools have to take the lead because unfortunately we all know that there are parents who simply won't. It's a sad day when they can't even meet the most basic requirements of this strategy and leave Scotland with no hope of tackling this epidemic.”

Providing schoolchildren with two hours of exercise every week was a key recommendation in 2004 of a Scottish executive review group tasked with suggesting ways of tackling rising obesity levels.

The previous Labour/Liberal Democrat administration set a deadline of June 2008. However, no council has achieved the target.

Only 17 of Scotland's 32 local authorities provided reliable statistics, while a further seven admitted they were not meeting the two-hour target.

Four more have effectively abandoned the policy by failing to monitor provision. Three others failed to respond to a request for figures.

Isabel Hutton, Cosla's education spokeswoman, added: “We are moving away from narrow targets and input measures - such as the two hours of PE per week - to focus on what is important: improving the health outcomes for children and tackling inequality.”

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