Steven Ward offers an overview of this vision document, officially unveiled at this month’s ukactive Summit

More people, more active, more often. That’s the unwavering mission statement of ukactive, and this month sees the unveiling of our latest initiative in support of this quest.

Blueprint for an Active Britain has been a long time in the making. It’s a vision document setting out what (as well as where and how) the government – in close collaboration with the physical activity sector – can do to get our sedentary nation moving again.

It covers a number of key areas such as public health, the role of the NHS, the wellbeing workforce, active travel and active workplaces, as well as looking at ways to promote activity within under-represented groups such as people with a disability and older adults.

We haven’t come to these conclusions alone. The Blueprint is a stakeholder-led document, produced in consultation and with the support of big charities such as Mind, Age UK and the British Heart Foundation, as well as numerous individual supporters including former Children’s Commissioner Sir Al-Aynsley Green and Lord Darzi, government advisor on health.

This report allows ukactive and the activity sector to put forward one cohesive proposition at a time when government engagement with the sector has never been keener.

Call for action
For example, we’re calling on the NHS to appoint a physical activity tsar to fully integrate physical activity into care pathways for long-term conditions. We’d like to see an NHS workforce physical activity scheme too, to get doctors and nurses moving themselves. We’re seeking an innovative partnership with public health, with a greater involvement of the sector and inclusion of private enterprise. And we aim to put an exercise professional in every GP surgery, further integrating activity professionals into the core delivery of health and wellbeing.

The Blueprint calls for an enhanced role for the traditional sector too, recommending that the Department for Business recognise the provision of leisure as the provision of healthcare, cutting red tape for operators – thereby reducing the cost of trade and facilitating a focus on innovative new programmes – as well as supporting local authorities via local partnerships that are designed to both protect and grow leisure services.

We’re also calling for the Cycle to Work scheme to be scaled up, giving employers access to classes or gym memberships as part of wider ‘personalised activity plans’ for individuals or families; these could include children’s activity camps or other pursuits. We’re calling for these policies to be underpinned by a cross-government, cross-departmental physical activity strategy, building on the existing work by the DCMS and Public Health England to lay the foundations for a more active society.

Pushing the agenda
Preventable long-term conditions cost the UK £121bn a year, so these policy ambitions and asks of government are unashamedly ambitious and vitally needed. Over the next year, ukactive will be pushing to ensure the visions set out in the Blueprint are realised.