Question 1: The leisure and education sectors are under huge pressure to address obesity. What initiatives and actions are going to make the
biggest impact?

Asked by: Wesley Hutchins, Assistant Director, Community Services, Borough of Broxbourne

Panel Members - Responses

John Wileman
Making local leisure provision more accessible to a wider demographic. Not everybody feels comfortable walking into a leisure centre. In Nottingham, we’re working with other community providers, such as resident and tenant associations, to deliver a wider leisure service in village halls and community centres. If we train residents to run activities such as walking or jogging sessions, we will hopefully break down some barriers. Once people feel comfortable exercising in familiar environments, we can signpost them into our leisure centres.

David Stalker
Better community engagement is the answer. The leisure sector will not make a significant impact on the obesity issue working in silos. Instead, we need to concentrate efforts on building partnerships with other community organisations to deliver activities. Initiatives such as The Responsibility Deal may also make it possible to attract private sector investment.

Neil Mosley
Many students are inactive during their time at university, with cost cited as a main reason for this. Higher Education organisations are now recognising this issue. In some cases, more effort is being made to provide smaller leisure facilities on residential campuses, negating travel fees and increasing ease of access. Many universities are also subsidising leisure provision, offering free use to students at scheduled times.

Lee Mason
Providing more choice of physical activity is what’s needed. A community has many different leisure needs and a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work.

Many NGBs are having significant success in attracting new participants by remodelling their traditional game format to meet the needs of specific groups within the community. Perhaps the fitness sector needs to do the same.

Question 2: Do you think that the thousands of pounds spent on gym equipment every year, without data to support this investment, is money well spent?

Asked by: Rory McGown, MD, GYMetrix

Panel Members - Responses

David Stalker
There is little doubt that leisure operators need to become better at data collection and analysis. Without solid evidence to support the purchases we make and the actions we take, we’re going to struggle to stake our case for investment from either government or the private sector. Making better use of the technology available to measure, track and analyse is the key to the growth of the sector.

John Wileman
There’s little doubt that the purchase of gym equipment has had a huge impact on community leisure provision. Let’s not forget, it was the arrival of the gym into leisure centres that drove the direct debit model and enabled the sector to enjoy huge revenues, subsidising other physical activity services and provisions.

So yes, it has been money well spent. Moving forward we need to direct more resources to staff training. This will help ensure users receive the education necessary for them to make the right exercise choices.

Question 3: What are the key areas of focus moving forward, and what will success look like?

Asked by: Christian Harris, Director, Bonasystems

Panel Members - Responses

Martin Kay
Leisure provision used to be focused on community needs, but increasingly it’s becoming focused on reducing the subsidy and generating more revenue. Unfortunately, the balance sheet is now a Key Performance Indicator when it comes to leisure, which is a very short-sighted approach.

Neil Mosley
Our aim is to deliver a valuable experience to students while preparing them for the workforce. Success is a highly skilled, healthy labour pool.

Question 4: What role can Higher Education play in driving participation?

Asked by: Phil Steele, Director of Sport, UEA Sports Park

Panel Members - Responses

Lee Mason
Universities play a key role in driving participation. The CSP Network does not own any assets and is totally reliant on partners to deliver physical activity to the local community. Some of the Network’s activity centres are encouraging universities to open facilities to the community during evenings and weekends. This is a win-win scenario: it provides the local population with a wider choice of affordable facilities while generating extra income for the hosting site.

Question 5: If you were given £500,000, how would you spend it?

Asked by: Stuart Lockwood, CEO, Oldham
Community Leisure

Panel Members - Responses

Martin Kay
Investment in leisure assets and the development of partnerships that deliver a wider choice of leisure activities to the local community.

Lee Mason
I’d use it to leverage matched funding from government and employers. Funds could be used to train physical activity activators, thereby creating training and employment opportunities. The role of the activators would be to drive participation, resulting in a healthier, more active population.

John Wileman
I’d invest it in the development of a multi-functional sports band. Worn on the wrist, the sports band would log and track physical activity. It would also be used to collect reward points, for example in partnership with a large supermarket chain, which could be redeemed against activity sessions at the local leisure centre.

David Stalker
Gain matched funding from the commercial sector to grow the investment. Capital would then be used to fund peer-based research, to provide better evidence of the positive impact our leisure services are having on the local population. Strong evidence of success will, moving forward, enable the sector to stake a strong case for funding via bodies such as Public Health England.

Neil Mosley
I’d introduce a health, fitness and wellbeing qualification that carries as much weight as core GCSEs such as English and maths. Individuals would be assessed according to their health, and would achieve a grade depending on the state of their health and their efforts to improve it. This would give less academic youngsters a chance to excel, while giving employers a good indication of the health of potential new recruits.