Politicians overlooking post-Olympic power of sport in tackling nation's ills

• New evidence shows that physical activity is the cheapest way of tackling many public policy objectives.
   
• Ministers treating ‘symptoms’ of social and health problems, not causes.
   
• Biggest crises facing the UK – obesity, diabetes, dementia, antisocial behaviour, breakdown of communities – can all be cost effectively tackled through sport and physical activity.
   
• Cross-party commission need to de-politicise sport and agree consensus on 20 year strategy.

As reported in the Observer, the Sport and Recreation Alliance is providing the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Office and all government departments with a compelling new review called the Game of Life in a bid to get sport and physical activity higher up the government’s policymaking agenda and to encourage a cross-departmental approach to the UK’s sports policy.

The Game of Life is a first in policy making, bringing together over 350 independent research sources to evaluate and highlight the far-reaching benefits that sport and physical activity can bring to the nation’s health, wealth, wellbeing, social cohesion and productivity.

Key findings in the review highlight the massive potential that sport and physical activity has to play in benefitting a range of policy areas and issues, and it provides a persuasive argument to implement a more joined-up approach in this area by the government.

Key highlights include:

• The NHS spends around £1,000 every second treating illness and disease that could be easily prevented by people leading more active lives. If even a fraction of that same amount of money were invested in sport, the potential for a healthier, happier and wealthier society is immense.
   
• Combatting the obesity epidemic and spiralling NHS costs: Cardiovascular heart disease costs the UK over £30 billion a year. Regular activity can reduce the risk of cardiovascular heart disease by up to 40%.
   
• Staving off mental illnesses: Dementia costs the NHS £23 billion a year and there is no known cure. Keeping active reduces the risk of dementia by 2-3 times.
   
• Reducing crime and antisocial behaviour in young people: A community football initiative in London has reduced youth crime by 66% within a 1 mile radius of its site.
   
• Boosting the nation’s productivity: Physical activity programmes at work can reduce absenteeism in UK businesses by up to 20%.
   
• Creating social cohesion: 81% of sports club members say they make friends through their exercising compared to just 14% of fitness care users.
   
• Increasing the skills and employability of young people: 87% of employers believe that volunteering can have a positive effect on career progression and 1 in 5 volunteers in the UK volunteer in sport.
   
• Inspiring a generation to take up sport: 20 minutes of exercise a day aged 14 means you are 3 to 4 times more likely to participate in sport and recreation aged 31.

Andy Reed, chair of the Sport and Recreation Alliance said:

“For years interested parties have asked for a more joined-up approach to sport and recreation policy within government, but a co-ordinated approach has always been considered too difficult to implement.

“If the evidence in this paper points to one thing, it is that whilst co-ordinating the role of sport across government departments might be difficult to do, it is becoming increasingly expensive to ignore.

“Politicians of all parties have undervalued the contribution of physical activity in making Britain a better place. It just doesn’t get treated seriously as a public policy option. But in the face of the success of the Olympics and the Paralympics and all the evidence that we have put together, people have got to start paying attention.

“The party conference season has demonstrated that the inclination so far has been to enjoy the glory of success without actually concentrating on what made it happen. There was no substantive debate either at the conferences or in their fringes about how we can use the momentum created by the games to make a difference.

“We absolutely should pat ourselves on the back for a great summer of sport but more important is to start asking the questions about how we maintain the momentum we’ve created.

“We need radical thinking that takes the politics out of sport for the next generation so that we can replicate what we’ve achieved with the Olympics. A cross-party commission which pins down sports policy in our schools, communities and at elite level for the next 20 years would help us agree a way forward which all governments could buy into.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to use the galvanising power of the Olympics and Paralympics to make the cultural shift in this country to a genuine joined-up sport and physical activity strategy across all government departments – to ingrain it at the heart of government thinking.

"The launch of our research makes that case. I personally have been making that call for over a decade and we will continue at the Alliance to make a genuine case for a cross departmental strategy led from the top of government. Our research shows and proves that sport delivers on so many government agendas including health, education, crime reduction and social cohesion.

“The Olympics and Paralympics have made this the perfect time to think about what sport and physical recreation can do for us in the UK. The Games created a feel-good factor which few of us have ever experienced before. The key will be using the extraordinary power of sport to make people not just feel good but to also be healthier, happier – even richer.”

For more information contact Libby Jellie, communications officer, on 07834 726 224/020 7976 3933 or
email: ljellie@sportandrecreation.org.uk.

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