THE number of pupils playing sport across the region has plummeted since the Government controversially axed a popular scheme, a study found.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has been under fire ever since the winding down of School Sports Partnerships (SSPs), back in 2010.

This week, North-East Olympic legend Jonathan Edwards joined the criticism, telling a parliamentary inquiry that the decision had been “a very bad move”.

Now a survey of more than 1,000 people involved in sports at primary and secondary schools has uncovered firm evidence pointing to a decline in sport-playing.

In both the North-East and Yorkshire, around 42 per cent of teachers and organisers reported that participation in sport had dropped at their school.

In the North-East, 47.5 per cent said there had been no change – with just ten per cent replying that a replacement scheme had increased the numbers playing sport.

Meanwhile, in Yorkshire, even fewer teachers and organisers (5.5 per cent) said participation was up, with the remainder (52.5 per cent) reporting no change.

The figures were even worse than the survey’s results for England as a whole, where 35 per cent of respondents said fewer pupils were playing sport.

No fewer than 88 per cent said they regretted the demise of SSPs, which paid for PE teachers to co-ordinate tuition and inter-school events – even for the smallest primaries.

Labour accused the Government of squandering its golden opportunity to secure a sporting legacy from the success of the London 2012 Olympics.

Clive Efford, the party’s sports spokesman, said: "David Cameron's decision to cut funding to school sport is a disaster for our young people.

"Rather than building on the improvements Labour made, we've seen participation actually falling in more than one in three of our schools.

“David Cameron is failing to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure a lasting Olympic legacy.”

The Smith Institute surveyed 1,019 people, including 673 primary school teachers, 225 secondary school teachers and 121 School Games organisers and SSP staff.

The Institute said: “The main reasons mentioned, for those who indicated decreased levels of participation, were a lack of funding and, as a consequence pressure on time.

“This was impacting the ability of schools to run sports clubs, competitions and events and therefore resulted in fewer opportunities for participation.”

The all-party education select committee called Mr Edwards to give evidence, as part of its inquiry into the future of schools sports, following the Olympics.

The gold medal-winning triple jumper warned the replacement for SSPs – an annual grant to every primary school, of around £10,000 – would result in more “patchy provision”.

And he criticised the failure to measure sports teaching in schools, after Mr Gove axed an annual survey that recorded how much pupils are doing.