Commenting on today’s Spring Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, Tara Dillon, CEO of CIMSPA said,
“Today’s fiscal event provided no surprises against the challenging economic landscape.
The Chancellor built her statement around the government’s plans for economic growth, the focus of much of which falls on planning reforms and the defence industry.
This is against a backdrop of growing economic inactivity within the population.
So what’s the Chancellor’s plan to get some of the 1.55 million people who are unemployed into those industries such as construction?
The £600 million announced earlier this week for training new construction workers and the package of measures to support people into work set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper will not succeed in driving growth without an active, healthy population to carry out the job roles that these sectors, and every other, desperately need.
With the Prime Minister hailing the government’s commitment to ‘unleashing economic potential’ and the Chancellor’s assertion that she is working to a ‘serious plan to renew our economy and country’, they both need to recognise that our sector is the lynchpin to delivering on their promises. If they really are serious about ensuring that they have a generation of people who are ready and able to work, they must champion and support the power of physical activity in healthy, economically active lives. Our own work with DWP is just one example of how our sector is creating opportunities that impact multiple lives and the economy.
Equally they have to drive healthcare professionals to be better prepared to work with our sector, and better utilise physical activity experts to prevent and intervene early on long-term health conditions that are a barrier to work and happy, fulfilling lives for so many people.
As we move toward the Summer and the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), support for, and investment in sport, physical activity and active wellbeing, and crucially the exceptional sector professionals that work across every demographic and community in the country, must be front and centre of the government’s plan for change if they really intend to transform lives and the economy.”
