CONTENTS

Wednesday 7th September will be an important day for me for two
reasons. Firstly, it is the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympics in Rio.
London 2012 transformed so many people’s perception of disability
sport, and made household names of David Weir and Ellie Simmonds
amongst many others. And although I will be attending the Rio Games as
a commentator, as opposed to a competitor, my pride and excitement at
being associated with that wonderful event will be undiminished.
It will also be National Fitness Day in the UK on Wednesday 7th
September, and I am the proud Chair of the not-for-profit health body
ukactive, which campaigns to get more people, more active, more
often. ukactive has been working with its 4000 members and partners
to provide free events and taster sessions across the country, aiming to
make the day the most active in the calendar year.
Are those two events connected, beyond my own association? I
believe that they are.
Britain will, no doubt, have a number of new heroes returning
home following the completion of both the Olympics and Paralympics,
champions who we have cheered on, celebrated, and been inspired by.
So what happens now, once the show is over?
Many, many people grappled, and are still grappling, with the
question of legacy since our own games in 2012. As someone who
has been part of many of those discussions, there has definitely been
positive news in the last 12 months. The Government’s recent Sports
Strategy, complemented by Sport England’s own plans, has begun
to map out a new direction of travel. Much praise for that must go to
Tracey Crouch in having the courage to forge a new path and saying
the status quo is not acceptable any more.
She, like Sport England, like Simon Stevens at the NHS, like ukactive
and many other organisations, are now on the same page. We must
get this nation moving again. We must become more active.
The cost of not addressing inactivity is staggering, both economically
and socially. Every year, 37,000 people die from conditions which could
be prevented, an unacceptable number. The cost of physical inactivity
to the UK economy is estimated to be £20 billion a year. In challenging
economic times, can we afford this? Can we allow the NHS to be
placed under this unrelenting pressure?
How do we address that? The inspiration from our new Olympic
and Paralympic champions will help. The new strategic plans will help.
Events and campaigns like National Fitness Day will help.
But what we really need is greater than those individual moments. It
is a cultural shift. That cultural shift - to embed activity into our everyday
lives - will require radical and bold decisions which will debate and
challenge the current approach to physical activity across all ages.
Why an active
future is our only
option
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson
That is of particular importance for children’s activity levels
which is something I care passionately about. As a mother and a
parliamentarian who has worked closely with the children’s activity
agenda in the UK, we cannot continue to just focus on the size of a
child’s waists when it is the health of their hearts that is equally, if not
more, important.
As potentially the first generation whose life expectancy is shorter
than ours, the decisions we make now are critical. Today’s inactive
child is tomorrow’s inactive adult, unless we act. That is why the
recently published Childhood Obesity Strategy is so important. In
implementing it, we must address children’s diet and activity together,
with equal status, and create a compelling vision for how to address
childhood inactivity.
Furthermore, we must get serious about understanding the physical
activity levels of our children. Without robust evaluation, we do not have
a clear idea of who needs help or who needs the right intervention. The
welcome role of Ofsted will be crucial in realising that outcome and
ukactive looks forward to working with the body to maximise its impact.
I passionately believe that developing an active lifestyle should be
just as important as learning English, Mathematics and Science, as it is
an essential component of a child’s development and their mental and
physical wellbeing. That is why I will continue to champion the concept
of measuring children’s fitness levels. Without that key data, it is not
possible to measure the impact of new strategies or set benchmarks.
That type of data is vital for making any evidence-based decisions;
yet decisions as important as improving the health and wellbeing of
children are being taken without this support and guidance.
The new Childhood Obesity Strategy must also address support for
families. In many ways, the challenge is keeping kids active beyond the
school gates. ukactive’s own research shows that kids lose the fitness
levels they have built up at school during the school holidays. There is a
strong argument that the forthcoming funding from the soft drinks levy
must go wider than the PE and Sport Premium and support families
who cannot afford or access the summer programmes that would
maintain their children’s activity levels.
Our reality is that only half of seven-year-olds today meet the 60
minutes of daily physical activity recommended by the Chief Medical
Officer. We cannot accept that any longer. My time as a politician has
already taught me that political change comes through pressure. The
pressure in this context is the overwhelming case for changing our
children’s activity levels, combatting generation inactive. The tough part
is now taking the bold and radical decisions that make our children
active again, and which are backed up by delivery. We must all be
partners in achieving that.
POLICY-UK EVENTS SCHEDULE
Public policy conferences, seminars and roundtables - bringing together central
and local government, business, charities and consumer - citizen groups to examine
the future direction of legislative and regulatory reform.
BELOW IS A LIST OF OUR UPCOMING EVENTS:
Young People and the Justice System – Delivering a
Positive Outcome: Early Intervention, Education and
Reducing Reoffending
Tuesday 13th September
41 Portland Place, London, W1B 1QH
Keynote Speaker: Lord McNally, Chair, Youth Justice
Board (YJB)
The Taylor Review - Outcomes and recommendations,
analysis of the interim report and the future of YOIs and
STCs;
Collaboration - How to promote closer and more joined
up working between the organisations and public
bodies charged with protecting and supporting young
people to intervene and prevent a spiral of activity; and
Devolved Responsibility - Implications to the youth justice
system of empowering PCCs and local authorities and
the potential challenges facing the move to local focus.
Social Media: Regulation and Law – Enforcement,
Privacy and Getting to Grips with Jokes, Pokes and Twits
Wednesday 14th September 2016
Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam Street, London,
W1W 6JJ
Keynote Speaker: Neil Moore QC, Adviser to the Director
of Public Prosecutions, Crown Prosecution Service
Social Media Users: Freedom, Ownership and
Responsibility;
Enforcement: The Should (and Could) of Taming the
‘Wild Web West’;
Messaging: Privacy, Encryption and Data Protection.
Social Mobility in Higher Education - Raising attainment,
reducing educational gaps and improving retention
Thursday 15th September 2016
Cavendish Conference Centre, 22 Duchess Mews,
London, W1G 9DT
Keynote Speaker: Professor Les Ebdon, Director of Fair
Access to Higher Education
Outcomes and recommendations from the Social
Mobility Advisory Group report, expected in Summer;
Current and future policies aimed at breaking down
barriers to Higher Education, including the proposal for
a ‘transparency duty’ for universities’ admissions and
retention data; and
How to improve the ‘student life-cycle’ and progress
made since the publication of the Social Mobility
Commission’s State of the Nation Report in December.
Delivering the UK’s IoT Revolution - Building the
Infrastructure, Ensuring the Security and Realising the
Economic Potential
Thursday 22nd September 2016
Central London
Keynote Speaker: Kevin Baughan, Director of Technology
and Innovation, Innovate UK
Priorities for encouraging investment into the sector,
developing commercial opportunities and supporting
adoption;
Future infrastructure, spectrum and skills requirements to
support growth; and
How to future-proof technologies, reassure consumers
and businesses about security, resilience and privacy
concerns, and the next steps for creating a coherent
and cooperative regulatory environment.
Supporting a Healthy Childhood – Policy Priorities for
Obesity, Active Lifestyles and Taking Responsibility
Thursday 13th October 2016
Central London
Keynote Speaker: Senior representative, Public Health
England
Policy priorities and implementation of the Government’s
Childhood Obesity Strategy;
Implications of the Sugar Tax on extra funding for school
sports and how this will help to encourage children to
have more active lifestyles; and
Improving the diets of children and young people, and
how to ensure everyone has access to healthy options
regardless of background or socioeconomic status.