This week, Baroness Heyhoe-Flint called a debate on the government’s need to encourage more active lifestyles.
She told Peers that Britain was “facing a glut of inactivity” which placed extreme pressure on the NHS, and drew attention to the alarming figures outlined in the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s recent Game of Life report.
Throughout the debate the work of the Alliance's members was recognised, including The Ramblers, the ASA, British Masters Athletics, Extend, the Bowls Development Alliance, the Lawn Tennis Association and the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation.
Baroness Heyhoe-Flint highlighted that the requirement for a minimum of two hours a week of physical education had been removed by the current government – despite recommendations from the chief medical officer that children have 60 minutes of exercise per day.
She also echoed the Alliance’s concerns that PE will not be included as one of the core five subjects in the new baccalaureate, called for all primary school teachers to receive PE and aquatics training, and for Ofsted to include swimming and sports provision within school inspections.
Baroness Massey of Darwen joined the debate and stressed the need for a “readily accessible visible continuum of possibilities” to encourage active lifestyles, which would result in physical, mental, emotional and social benefits to society – and Lord Addington recognised that responsibility for encouraging active lives fell across several government departments.
The shadow sport spokesperson, Baroness Billingham, called on the government to address the lack of women and girls in sport: “It is worth reminding ourselves that children born to women who are involved in sport are 80 per cent more likely to be sporting too,” she added.
The parliamentary under-secretary of state, Department of Health, Earl Howe, recognised that inactivity was “a silent killer” and told peers that the government had established a national ambition for a year-on-year increase in adults doing 150 minutes of exercise per week.
Read the full transcript of the debate.
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