{"id":19884,"date":"2022-01-07T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/news\/government-must-change-its-muddled-approach-to-physical-activity-policy\/"},"modified":"2022-01-07T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T18:30:00","slug":"government-must-change-its-muddled-approach-to-physical-activity-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukactive.com\/cy\/news\/government-must-change-its-muddled-approach-to-physical-activity-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Government must change its muddled approach to physical activity policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gan Huw Edwards, Prif Swyddog Gweithredol ukactive<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Professor Chris Whitty spoke<\/a> at the ukactive Conference in November 2020 he made very clear the importance of physical activity to our lives. \u201cThere is no point in life where doing more exercise does not improve health in multiple ways, \u201d he said, before adding, \u201cas we come out of the Covid crisis, it\u2019s very important we try to get people who\u2019ve got out of the habit of regular exercise back into a situation where they\u2019re doing so, and encourage others who\u2019ve taken up exercise in a way they previously hadn\u2019t, to continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the past few weeks our political leaders have not heeded this expert advice from the Chief Medical Officer in England.\u00a0The decision\u00a0to exclude support<\/a> for gyms, pools and leisure centres from the latest Covid financial support package threatens a growing number of facilities with closure \u2013 particularly those in city centres which have suffered the greatest loss in footfall<\/a> due the Omicron guidance. These decisions are regressive and will harm our public health, especially now, in the depths of winter, during a vital time in the year when this essential sector is on the frontline, providing safe facilities and spaces to support community health needs.<\/p>\n

For far too long national policy on physical activity has been reactionary, muddled, and restrictive, and this urgently needs to change. This was reinforced recently by a House of Lords Committee<\/a> that said the Westminster governments\u00a0had overseen an \u201cuncoordinated and fragmented\u201d sport and physical activity strategy that failed to deliver change.<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s be clear; this isn\u2019t about lack of evidence on the value of physical activity. There is a library\u2019s worth of evidence which many organisations champion on a daily basis. Here are three of the most powerful statistics:<\/p>\n