The 'Lanscape Partners' - a working title for a coalition of stakeholders from the world of physical activity - have issued the following statement in response to the Government's physical activity strategy, Everybody Active, Every Day.
This week’s Public Health England (PHE) launch of ‘Everybody Active, Every Day’ document marks further progress in the recognition of the role of physical activity in tackling our national public health challenges.
Our organisations and our members deliver sport, recreation and physical activity in communities all over the country every day through networks of highly qualified staff and, crucially, volunteers. We know first hand of the benefits of a more active, engaged population.
There is much to welcome in PHE’s latest publication and we are committed to working together to play our part in making the population more active.
We particularly welcome the recognition of the whole breadth of our sector – from traditional sport, to outdoor recreation, dance, mind games, swimming, fitness and everything in between.
The need to make real changes to people’s lifestyles, and throughout their lives is essential.
We know that building activity into our daily lives is critical to our health and wellbeing which makes the role of organised, regular activity through dance groups, sports clubs, outdoor pursuit, health clubs, and a whole range of other activities more important than ever.
The document recognises that the best, most successful interventions are also those that are high quality and fun.
The social connections and enhancement to wellbeing that these groups contribute to, in addition to their health impact, is unparalleled and must be part of the Government’s strategy to increase activity levels.
It is clear that the Government recognise the costs of inactivity in health, economic and social terms. The challenge is significant and growing.
What we now need is the right package of investment and support – including for well-established, effective infrastructure and projects in our sector - to deliver real changes in activity levels. As a group, we look forward to coming forward with recommendations across key areas to make our shared vision a reality.
The Landscape Partners are Sport and Recreation Alliance, ukactive, sportsgroup, Sports Coach UK, SkillsActive and County Sports Partnership Network (CSPN).
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