PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Exercise and Obesity (19 October 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of Sport England’s Active Lives Survey November 2019-20 Report published in April 2021; and what steps she has taken to tackle the causes of obesity in (a) Enfield North, (b) Greater London, and (c) England.

Asked by:
Feryal Clark (Labour)

Sport and physical activity play a fundamental role in improving and maintaining public health, and a transformative role in creating a healthy, happy nation. For these reasons sport and activity are at the centre of the national response to improving people’s health, including tackling obesity. Sport England’s Active Lives Survey is a very important tool to understand the levels of activity across the nation and underline the importance of sport and physical activity to the people of this country.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities published ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’ in July 2020. The strategy reflects the significant work that we are undertaking across England to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and to help people achieve and maintain a healthier weight.

The government has provided over £1 billion worth of support into the sport and physical activity sector through the pandemic to help to maintain and support the sector. As part of this, Sport England has provided £270 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres, via a range of funds including their £35 million Community Emergency Fund.

Sport England has invested £957,419 in the Enfield North constituency since April 2017. Of this, more than £22,000 was via Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund to support grassroots sport clubs and community organisations to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

Alongside this through Sport England’s new strategy, Uniting the Movement, they set out the importance of working in places to provide the ongoing support needed in communities. Sport England have tested and championed place-based solutions to tackle inactivity through their Local Delivery Pilots since 2017, including testing the role that tackling inactivity can play in reducing obesity and helping those living with obesity.

Answered by:
Nigel Huddleston (Conservative)
26 October 2021