To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to tackle physical inactivity in areas with high levels of economic deprivation.
Answered on
23 November 2016
Tackling physical inactivity is a major priority for this Government. The Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action published on 18 August, sets out the actions we are taking to support children and young people to meet the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ daily recommended levels of at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity. Actions include doubling the Primary PE and Sport Premium from September 2017, provision of an interactive online tool to help schools identify gaps in existing provision and recommend ways of increasing opportunities for children to be active, and access to high quality sports and physical activity programmes for all primary schools in England. This year, the Department has been also investing a further £1 million in the Change4Life Sports Clubs programme which targets the least active children.
These measures are additional to the measures announced in the last year by Government and Sport England in our respective strategies to encourage more participation in sport and wider physical activity.
Both strategies highlight the importance of focusing on groups that are less likely to take part in sport and physical activity including those from lower socio-economic groups. Sport England will invest over £250 million in the next four years to tackle inactivity. This funding will include measures to specifically engage under-represented groups.