Councils plan to double the amount of money they spend on tackling inactivity, according to a new report.
Steps to solving inactivity, published by ukactive, reveals that local authorities have allocated 4% of their public health grant on tackling inactivity in 2014.15, compared to 3% in 2012/14. The figures also show that 70% of councils have increased their allocated budget on physical activity.
The report shows that 29% of people in England are physically inactive, so it calls for more to be done to capture and evaluate physical activity programme data.
CEO of ukactive David Stalker said: ‘We've known for some time that we're facing an uphill battle to reverse the inactivity trend and while the increase in funding represents a seismic shift in thinking amongst local authorities, building a sound evidence base to underpin the activity will be the ultimate difference between success and failure.’
Prime minister, David Cameron, said he welcomed the report as ‘further evidence’ of the need to tackle physical inactivity. He said: ‘The Government has made it clear through our 'Moving More, Living More' initiative that departments will work together, with the Mayor of London's teams, to embed physical activity into the DNA of the nation as part of the long term physical activity legacy from the 2012 Games.’
The report calls for Health and Wellbeing Boards to have a designated physical activity champion and for a more data-oriented approach to measuring programme outcomes. It also wants physical activity planning cementing into areas such as social care, education, and transport policies.
