CHILDREN are at risk of drowning because they are not being taught to swim properly, a Hampshire MP has warned.

Caroline Nokes seized on figures suggesting just 26 per cent of 11-year-olds in her Romsey and Southampton North constituency can swim 25 metres without help.

The proportion is little more than half the average across England of 49 per cent – itself condemned as appalling by the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA).

The figures were also worrying for the other parliamentary seats in the city, Southampton Itchen (31 per cent) and Southampton Test (37 per cent).

Across Hampshire, only the constituency of New Forest East (79 per cent) was performing significantly better than the average, according to the ASA.

And the organisation was unable to compile meaningful statistics for some seats – because so few primary schools replied to its survey.

Ms Nokes said she was convinced that some primary schools in Romsey and Southampton North had “a real commitment to swimming”.

In particular, the Conservative MP praised Louise Rosen, the head teacher at Romsey Abbey Primary School, for her “determination to keep swimming in the timetable”.

But Ms Nokes added: “The statistics across the constituency are not great, although only six schools responded.

“I think it is critical for schools to play their part in encouraging a life-long enthusiasm for sport – helping children to remain fit and healthy into adulthood. “Swimming is obviously part of that mix. It is not just great exercise, but also potentially life-saving.”

At present, Ofsted does not monitor how schools perform as part of its inspections – which means an estimated 1.1 million children miss out on swimming.

There were 407 deaths from drowning in 2011 – including 47 people under the age of 19 – the ASA pointed out.

The ASA survey – of 3,500 primary schools and 1,000 parents – found that 37 per cent of mums and dads said their child never had swimming lessons at schools.

The average pupil spent just eight hours and 15 minutes each year in swimming lessons at school – only a third of the time recommended in the national curriculum.

But only a minority of primary schools responded in all areas of Hampshire and across England, making accurate comparisons difficult.

David Sparkes, the ASA’s chief executive, said “School swimming is the single most effective way of teaching children how to be safe in and around water.

“Yet swimming is one of the few areas of a child’s statutory education that is all too often left unmeasured, unchecked or – for 1.1 million children – unfulfilled.”