How can the UK’s inactivity crisis be tackled?

London: It’s National Fitness Day, a day to highlight the role physical activity plays across the UK. But this year’s campaign comes at a pivotal time, when the government admits there are “stubbornly high levels of inactivity”,when gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres have struggled with running costs, and following further falls in the amount of PE and sport being offered in schools.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) recently published a sport strategy – its first for eight years. It is vowing to drastically improve the nation’s health and fitness. “Recent years have seen unprecedented challenges for sport and our ability to be active,” says Lucy Frazer, DCMS secretary of state, referring to the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

An “unapologetically ambitious” target of one million more adults and 2.5 million more children to be physically active by 2030 has been set as part of the government’s Get Active initiative. But more than a decade after the London 2012 Games promised to “inspire a generation”, how realistic is such an aim in such a timeframe, and how could it be achieved?

Some 25% of adults are currently deemed to be inactive in England, with more than 11 million doing less than 30 minutes of total activity in a week.

Just over 50% of children and young people are not meeting the chief medical officer’s guidance of at least 60 minutes of activity a day – with 30% doing less than 30 minutes a day.

According to the Sport and Recreation Alliance, the UK now ranks joint 12th out of 15 comparable European nations for levels of physical activity.

Meanwhile, NHS statistics from 2021-2022 indicate that almost a quarter of Year 6 children were obese in England, an increase of 3% from 2018-19. And last month, the government revealed there had been a fall of 4,000 hours of PE and sport in state-funded secondary schools in England in the last academic year, as well as a 12% drop since 2012. It is “a matter of immediate national concern”, according to the Youth Sport Trust.

So why does all this matter? The government estimates that every £1 spent on sport and physical activity generates almost £4 in return across health and wellbeing, strengthening communities and the economy. And that each year, active lifestyles prevent 900,000 cases of diabetes and 93,000 cases of dementia, a combined saving of £7bn to the UK economy.

As well as easing the strain on the NHS, it also recognises that physical activity helps tackle a range of social challenges, from loneliness and community division to unemployment and crime.