Sport and physical activity sector leaders urge Government to work with sector as new evidence shows stark inequalities are limiting our most vulnerable children’s life chances
Joint statement from the National Sector Partners Group
New numbers from Sport England show that over half of our children and young people are not meeting the minimum recommended levels of daily activity, set by the Chief Medical Officer to maintain health.
This year’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey results show widening inequalities based on gender, geography, ethnicity and affluence.
Girls and children from less affluent families are still less likely to be active than boys and those from more wealthy families, and the gap between activity levels among Black and Asian children and White children has widened over the past five years.
Early intervention of physical activity which builds positive habits and experiences has the power to change lives, increase population health, and set children and young people up with the best opportunity to thrive – yet over half our children, and crucially in majority those who need it the most, are not being given enough of a chance.
Further, while numbers show that active children are happier and less lonely on average, last year we lost over 4000 hours of Physical Education in our curriculum and we are facing a youth mental and wellbeing crisis.
There are some positive trends with a significant increase in children and young people participating in gym and fitness activities, as well as more girls playing football, which shows that direct investment, role models and working with the sector reaps rewards.
And we know that though we are overall a very inactive nation compared to European neighbours, we are nearly the most efficient national sector where it comes to maximising investment.
Get Active, the government’s new strategy for sport and physical activity, set ambitious targets for increasing activity levels, but current systems are not functioning well enough to enable a good start in life for all children.
We need to reimagine how we approach activity at all levels, and put activity at the heart of schools, our communities, and government priorities. Otherwise we will fall short of those targets and will be putting the next generation at risk.
Current and future governments have an opportunity here to be more ambitious and work with our sector already to unlock the power of being active for young people and shift the dial on activity, health and wellbeing. Our sector stands ready to work with leaders and government to make this a reality.
Tara Dillon, CEO of CIMSPA said:
“Sport and physical activity has an incredibly important role in not only helping young people to live healthy lives, but also in developing their confidence and a range of other skills and behaviours.
Increasing activity levels in young people, particularly in those communities and families which are facing the greatest level of inequality, is vital to addressing the very serious physical and mental health challenges that we face as a nation.
Our members who work with children and young people see the fantastic impact that participation in activity has across their lives, both during their formative years and into their future.
We are committed to working with our partners and the government to continue to build opportunities for everyone, in every community, to be physically active throughout their lives.”
About the National Sector Partners Group
This release is issued on behalf of a coalition of lead representative bodies from across the sport, recreation and physical activity sectors:
- Active Partnerships
- Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA)
- Local Government Association (LGA)
- Sport for Development Coalition
- Sport and Recreation Alliance
- ukactive
- Youth Sport Trust
Through our collaborative work as sector partners, we aim to engage decision makers to improve the operating landscape for the sector and embed sport, recreation and physical activity as a key contributor to wider public policy objectives.
As part of wider work through the National Sector Partners Group (NSPG), we recently published Unlocking the Potential which sets out how sport, recreation and physical activity can be integral to successfully delivering a number of key Government priorities including Levelling Up, driving economic growth, achieving Net Zero and supporting the NHS. The report also proposes a range of systemic interventions including access to investment, tax and regulatory changes and wider policy reform which the coalition believes are key to maximising this role.