MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Sport England’s (a) implementation of the strategy to tackle inactivity and (b) use of funding for that purpose.

David Evennett

Government is determined to tackle physical inactivity. Around one in two women and a third of men in England are damaging their health through a lack of physical activity.

In December 2015, Government published ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation", which set out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation, with a strong focus on reaching inactive people and helping them to get moving in ways that suit them.

Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, published on 19 May, is consistent with, and takes forward, the Government’s vision and relevant recommendations from Sporting Future, including those on inactivity. It sets out the organisation’s plans for tackling inactivity, including by tripling its current investment to over £250m over 4 years, making it the largest single national investor in tackling inactivity. As part of that it will create a new, dedicated fund of £120 million to tackle inactivity over the next four years, building on the insight gained from pilots of their Get Healthy Get Active fund.

Government will report annually on progress in implementing ‘Sporting Future’.