David Stalker, ukactive CEO, discusses the parliamentary group set up to examine physical inactivity and get the UK active

We’re in the grasp of a physical inactivity epidemic. We can’t ignore the fact that over the last 50 years, physical activity has declined by 20 per cent and is predicted to decline by a further 15 per cent by 2030. Society has engineered movement out of daily life, leading to today’s children being less fit than their parents.

Last year, I publicly called on the government, business and the NHS to help turn the tide of inactivity and prevent 37,000 needless deaths a year, and I’m delighted that politicians are starting to see this as an issue in its own right, up there with smoking, alcohol and obesity.

Indeed, Prime Minister David Cameron said before our November Summit that: “Turning the tide of inactivity is essential to the health of our nation. I am delighted to support ukactive and its drive for making sure physical activity becomes part of the DNA of our country.”

A new Commission
And there are others championing this cause – people who share our vision of getting the nation more active: physical inactivity, particularly among children in the UK, is now being examined by an All-Party Parliamentary Commission on Physical Activity jointly set up by Nike, British Heart Foundation, the Lawn Tennis Association, Sustrans, Premier League and the Young Foundation.

It’s a disturbing fact that 31 per cent of boys and 28 per cent of girls aged between two and 15 years were classed as either overweight or obese in 2011–12. The Commission, chaired by politicians from across the political spectrum, has been established to address this urgent issue and has already heard from politicians such as Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Charlotte Leslie MP, Julian Huppert MP and Barbara Keeley MP, as well as garnering support from world-class athletes Mark Cavendish and Dai Greene.

It has been set up to look at the whole field of physical activity – public health, sport, transport and urban planning, and education – to avoid the danger of a simplistic focus on sport.

Representing the active leisure sector, ukactive will be providing both written and oral evidence to the Commission. We will be outlining interventions that we know work, such as the Let’s Get Moving programme, which puts an exercise professional directly into GP surgeries to support patients in setting realistic and achievable personal physical activity goals.

Practical plans
The Commission is expected to release a final report that outlines its findings and recommendations. We would hope that the government notices this and creates a long-term national physical activity strategy that’s both scalable and deliverable. I strongly urge this to be as practical as possible. We need to establish interventions and strategies that are replicable in everyday settings, otherwise we will have missed a very real opportunity to influence policy direction.

Decision-makers need practical recommendations, practical methods and practical interventions that support inactive people to become active for the good of their health. While national policy and support is essential, following the reforms of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 it’s within local authorities that the responsibilities and resources have been placed to drive this agenda – we can’t just focus on the national level.

As we progress through 2014, old contracts that local authorities inherited with the reforms will begin to come to an end. This is an opportunity for councils to work closely with local communities to develop local physical activity strategies and neighbourhood plans that work to get inactive people active.

A cross-party political commitment is needed to realign public health priorities to create a focus on inactivity comparable to the focus on gold medals. I look forward to seeing the final findings and recommendations of the Commission, and for ukactive to continue this drive.