New sports strategy sets target to get 3.5 million more people active

By DCMS | 30 August 2023 | TAGS: Sport Strategy, Lucy Frazer, active partnerships

The Government’s new sports strategy, Get Active: A strategy for the future of sport and physical activity, will aim to get an additional 2.5 million adults and 1 million more children by 2030.

The new strategy sets out a blueprint to improve the nation’s health and fitness, enhance corporate governance in the sport sector, and make it more resilient to future challenges at elite and grassroots level. 

The new participation targets are intended to reach people of all ages and backgrounds, and meet the UK Chief Medical Officers’ (CMO) guidance that:

• Adults should aim to carry out at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week 
• Children should aim to carry out at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day 

Figures from the Sport England Active Lives Survey indicate that 25% of adults are currently deemed to be ‘inactive’ in England, with over 11 million doing less than 30 minutes of activity in total a week.

Insight also shows 53% of children and young people are not meeting the CMO’s guidance of at least 60 minutes of activity a day - with 23% being fairly active, but 30% doing less than 30 minutes a day. 

NHS statistics from 2021-2022 indicate that almost a quarter (23%) of year 6 children were obese in England, an increase of 3% from 2018-19, the last figures recorded prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As part of this new strategy, an new National Physical Activity Taskforce will advise on how to deliver on these targets, challenge how ambitions are being delivered and hold the Government, National Governing Bodies, the physical activity sector and schools to account for delivering the targets at both the national and local level.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said:

"As Culture Secretary I want to increase opportunities for everyone to find the sport or activity that they love, which will help them be healthy and happy. Whether that’s playing with friends on the basketball court, getting on your bike or working out in your living room we want everybody to find a sport or physical activity for them.

"Our new taskforce, jointly led with Ugo Monye, will work across government and the sports industry to turn these ambitious targets into a reality, helping to break down barriers to help people enjoy the benefits of getting active. 

"Through our support for school sports and our continuing investment of millions of pounds in facilities in local communities across the country we are making sure that people have welcoming and accessible places where they can get active."

Andy Taylor, CEO of Active Partnership National Team added:  

"The network of Active Partnerships welcomes 'Get Active', the Government’s new strategy for sport and physical activity and the recognition of the important role that being physical active can play in improving the nation’s health and wellbeing. 

"The network of 43 Active Partnerships take a place-based approach to reducing inequalities using sport and physical activity. We therefore welcome the importance the strategy places on this approach, along with the recognition of the value sport and physical activity has in helping transform people’s lives.

"We partner with local and national stakeholders to affect widespread social change, whether it’s bringing communities closer together, connecting people to opportunities, driving greater inclusion, improving health and wellbeing, and economic productivity - we understand the true impact of being active. This also resonates with our role in implementing Sport England’s Uniting the Movement in tackling inequalities and ensuring everyone is able to experience the benefits being physically active brings.

"We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively across all areas of government and with our national and local partners to ensure we create a fairer, healthier nation."

Active Partnerships responds to Government’s Sports Strategy as part of National Sector Partners Group

"The National Sector Partners Group (NSPG) passionately believes that improving the health and wellbeing of this nation must be a central priority for this and future Governments. This is essential if we want to create sustained economic growth, support the NHS, and strengthen the fabric of our communities across all ages and backgrounds. The role of sport, recreation, and physical activity will be integral to this.

“The Government’s new Sports Strategy shines a spotlight on the essential nature of sport and physical activity in people’s everyday lives, and importantly recognises the many programmes and initiatives that contribute to this ambition to improve our national health and wellbeing.

“The collective responsibility to improve the health, wellbeing and economic productivity of the nation sits across Whitehall so we welcome the creation of a new Government taskforce to oversee the implementation of the strategy, with industry representatives collaborating with key Departments centrally.

“The inclusion in the new strategy of participation targets provides clarity around the Government’s ambitions for a more physically active population and to reduce existing inequalities. We look forward to seeing how these ambitions translate into clear, sustainable delivery plans that focus on the growth and development of the sector.

“Only by developing and supporting a programme of delivery in conjunction with all our partner organisations and making full use of all aspects of the sector, will this strategy be able to deliver on its ambitions and unlock the full potential of the sector. We believe with the necessary resources and working collaboratively with the sector, we can become one of the world’s most active nations and improve outcomes across society.

"We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the Government to develop and implement legislative changes and national initiatives to realise these ambitions together.”

The new sport strategy also seeks to ensure that the sector moves towards a more sustainable future, both financially and environmentally. 

DCMS will support the sector to attract additional forms of investment to help the sector continue to grow and thrive, including new sports and areas with significant growth potential, such as women’s sport.

The department will also highlight best practice, examples of good governance, and work with the tech sector to identify innovative solutions to help increase participation and physical activity. 

DCMS will also champion the importance of the sector prioritising the development of its own environmental sustainability initiatives and encourage the sharing of best practice from across sport and physical activity.

This is expected to help the sector to deliver on UK Sport’s goal for high-performance sport to be having a net positive impact on the environment by 2040, and for sport national governing bodies to have reduced their emissions by 50% by 2030. 

Finally, the strategy sets the vision for the future of the sector in the country. The Government is clear that sport needs to be a welcoming, inclusive and fair environment that participants and their parents or guardians can have confidence in. 

In light of this, a call for evidence is being launched on current experiences of how issues and concerns in sport across the UK are dealt with in the sector, and how these could be strengthened.

The call for evidence is open to participants in sport, parents and guardians, coaches, athlete support personnel, sports governing bodies, academics and other relevant stakeholders.

This news item is adapted from the DCMS press release which can be read here.