Physical Activity Strategies, Policies & Resources

is being done to help us participate in physical activity?

 

There are a number of strategies and policies nationally and regionally that contribute to an increase in physical activity participation.

    

Start Active, Stay Active: New UK Physical Activity Guidelines

Launched July 2011, the four UK Chief Medical Officers(CMO) published new physical activity guidelines covering early years; children and young people; adults; and older adults. These guidelines have a renewed focus on being active everyday and spell out the recommended minimum levels of activity for each age group.

'Start Active, Stay Active' updates the existing guidelines for children, young people and adults, and includes for the first time in the UK, guidelines for early years and older people. The flexibility of the guidelines creates new ways to achieve the health benefits of an active lifestyle, while retaining a strong link to previous recommendations. For all age groups, they highlight the risks of excessive sedentary behaviour, which exist independently of any overall volume of physical activity.

Download Start Active, Stay Active: a report on physical activity for health from the four home countries' Chief Medical Officers

To support these guidelines the Department of Health has produced a number of factsheets outlining the guidelines for each age group:

Download Factsheet 1: Early years (under 5s not yet walking)
Download Factsheet 2: Early years (under 5s capable of walking)
Download Factsheet 3: Children and young people (5-18 years)
Download Factsheet 4: Adults (19-64 years)
Download Factsheet 5: Older adults (65+ years)

 

Legacy Action Plan

 The Legacy Action Plan (LAP): 'Before, during and after: Making the most of the 2012 Games' sets out the Government's commitment to a lasting legacy for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The LAP included a new cross-government target to get two million more adults physically active by 2012. 

 

The objective of the LAP target is to increase by two million the number of

people doing three or more sessions (at least 30 minutes per session) of at

least moderate intensity activity per week. The target encompasses sport and

everyday physical activity such as walking, cycling, gardening, active

conservation and dance.

 

Sport England's Active People survey with the extended definitions of dance, active conservation, gardening and active travel (walking and cycling) will therefore be adopted as the most appropriate survey tool for both the 2 million target and Sport England's own target for 1 million more people active through sport.

 

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent also have a sub regional Legacy Action Plan for the 2012 Games 

 

Be Active, Be Healthy: A plan for getting the nation moving

Be Active, Be Healthy was published in February 2009 and sets out the Government's framework for delivering a more active nation in the run up to and beyond the London 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  The plan focuses predominantly on increasing physical activity levels in adults through informing choice and promoting physical activity, creating an active environment, supporting those most at risk of being inactive, and energising the delivery infrastructure for physical activity.

 

The plan clearly sets the framwork for how physical activity will contribute to the Legacy Action Plan (LAP) target of 2 million more adults active by 2012 whilst committing to shifting the curve of adult physical activity by reducing the proportion of the population achieving 30 minutes of continuous physical activity on less than one day of the week.

 

Grow, Sustain, Excel: Sport England Strategy 2008 - 2011

In June 2008 Sport England produced it's new strategy that focuses on getting more people playing and enjoying sport, and helping those with talent get to the very top!

 

The new approaches taken within this strategy are designed to capitalise on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and to use its power to inspire more people to take part in and succeed in sport.

 

---

There are other strategies and policies you can read about that all help contribute to the LAP (Legacy Action Plan) in getting us all more active!

  

  

  

  

     

                             

Would you like help in how to better promote your activity and reach your target audience? This toolkit will help you apply some social marketing techniques and learn how to use the FREE online tool

http://www.promotingactivity.com/home/about-us/

 

The Active People Survey

The Active People Survey is a national sport and active recreation (including walking and cycling) participation survey of adults (aged 16 and over) in England carried out by Ipsos MORI on behalf of Sport England.  The Survey is undertaken by telephone and data is collected, continuously providing weekly/monthly, quarterly data sets.  Sample sizes are also large enough to analyse at local authority level.  APS has previously focussed on activities that relate primarily to sport and active recreation, which last for at least 30 minutes per occasion. 

 

The Department for Health, from January 2009 requested that Ipsos Mori extend coverage of the Active People Survey to include additional domains of physical activity (e.g. dance, gardening, active conservation and active travel),  which have not previously been captured, but are recognised activities which can also benefit health.

Click here to find out more.