CIMSPA comment on General Election announcement

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of a General Election on 4th July, CIMSPA CEO Tara Dillon said,

“The next government will have a number of significant challenges. It is vital that all political parties recognise that the sport and physical activity sector, and in particular our talented and dedicated workforce can make a huge contribution towards addressing many of these.

The NHS continues to be under extreme pressure and this will undoubtedly be a key campaigning issue. We would urge the future government to take very seriously the immense positive contribution that sport and physical activity professionals make, not only in preventing people developing chronic, long-term health conditions by promoting healthy, active lifestyles, but also by enabling patients to recover better through improved wellbeing.

There are excellent examples around the UK of where partnerships between our sector and health professionals are saving thousands of pounds, reducing hospital bed occupancy days, and enabling people to return to socially and economically active lives. It’s imperative that the next government supports this collaboration to be done at scale and harnesses the power of our profession to benefit the health and wellbeing of all communities.

Essential to this is greater cohesion across government departments, and ongoing support for skills development.

Where learning and training provision supports the skills needs of employers and is aligned with local health and community development priorities, the economic benefits are clear. Skilled sport and physical activity professionals make a phenomenal contribution by enabling more people to be physically, and therefore economically, active. With economic growth at the top of the ‘to-do’ list for whoever forms the new government on 5th July, they’ll find a massive catalyst for this by putting our sector at the heart of their plans.”