Two studies published in late August indicate that physical activity levels among children and young people in the UK have plummeted, dealing a major blow to the government’s Olympic Legacy pledge to ‘inspire a generation’. The disappointing participation levels have sparked calls from the sector for the government to create a long-term national physical activity strategy to get more people, more active, more often.

Falling participation
The first study, the Department of Culture Media and Sport’s ‘Taking Part Survey’, shows an overall decline of participation from 91 per cent in 2008 to 88 per cent in 2012/13 across all children (aged five to 15 years). When viewed over a five-year period, the decline is even steeper: of the five- to 10-year-olds interviewed in 2008/09, 75 per cent said they had taken part in sport outside of school in the week prior to being interviewed. This decreased to 67 per cent over the last year.

The second study shows that half of seven-year-olds are getting nowhere near enough exercise. The BMJ Open’s ‘How Active Are Our Children?’ report highlights that only 51 per cent of children in the study met Chief Medical Officer guidelines, with girls (38 per cent) being far less active than boys (63 per cent).

This decline reflects long-term trends throughout the UK population, not only among children and young people, and it’s having a drastic impact on public health: the direct and indirect cost to the NHS of sedentary lifestyles has been estimated at an unsustainable £8.2bn a year.

A national strategy
Spurred by the latest figures, ukactive proposes that a long-term national physical activity strategy is vital, to address the increase in sedentary lifestyles as well as to help cut the risk of chronic disease.

Such national strategies have been successfully implemented in many other countries and have been highly recommended by the World Health Organisation as “excellent example[s] of how policymakers can adopt an integrated and multi-sectoral approach to improve public health and reduce chronic disease”. The WHO and European Union both call for the co-ordination and long-term commitment of all relevant government departments – alongside the public, private and third sectors – to achieve required increases in national physical activity levels.

A national strategy must aim for adults and children to meet the Chief Medical Officer’s minimum recommended levels of physical activity. This won’t be a simple challenge as complex individual, social and environmental variables influence changes in sedentary behaviour. But it’s been proven that 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by over 40 per cent; those with a stake in getting schools, communities and workplaces active must work together and shape policy to improve the nation’s health.

The UK challenge
However, the difficulty in addressing declining participation is made more difficult in the UK because physical activity doesn’t have a singular owner in government – no government department currently develops, promotes or delivers all aspects of physical activity. Rather, it’s part of the core business of a wide range of services within local and central government, including transport, planning, environment, education, civil society, leisure, sport and recreation.

This lack of a natural home in government is leading to a confused and disjointed approach. In the run-up to the General Election in 2015, parties will be drawing battle lines, but public health and physical activity shouldn’t be politicised. It needs cross-government, cross-party, and cross-boundary agreement.