As the former Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Running in Westminster, and having proudly completed the London Marathon, Mims is a committed advocate of all sport both for fitness and for fun. As such, she has today welcomed the Government's 'Get Active' strategy, which aims to get an additional 3.5 million people physically active by 2030.
People across the Mid Sussex play, watch and enjoy sport every day - it is central to their identity. We all know that being active and playing sport has the power to change lives for the better. Quite simply, an active life is a happier, healthier and more prosperous life.
However, recent years have seen unprecedented challenges for sport and our ability to be active. The pandemic and ongoing financial challenges around the cost of living have had a huge effect on all of us, including on the sport and physical activity sector and its workforce.
This new 'Get Active' strategy sets out how Government will respond to these challenges, to ensure that the sport and physical activity sector remains vibrant and relevant in the years to come. It builds on the strong foundations we already have in this country, and sets out how government and the wider sector, can come together to tackle today’s challenges and make the most of future opportunities.
Our ambitions are to make it easier for people in Mid Sussex to get physically active, and ensure the sport sector can thrive in the years ahead. To achieve this we need to be unapologetically ambitious, and that is why by 2030 we want to see 2.5 million more adults and 1 million more children being classed as active in England.
At present 1 in 4 adults is inactive, with 11 million adults across the country doing less than 30 minutes of exercise a week. On top of this, half of our nation’s children do less than 60 minutes of exercise a day. This has to change. We know that, beyond the metrics, participation in sport and physical activity has a significant beneficial impact for society by improving physical and mental health, reducing the burden on the NHS and reducing social isolation. To tackle this problem, this strategy outlines new national participation targets which seek to get over 2.5 million more adults and over 1 million children active by 2030, meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines. The strategy also sets out a particular focus on increasing the participation rates of the least active sections of our society.
To achieve this, the Government is establishing a new National Physical Activity Taskforce, comprising both Government and the sector, to achieve and track progress towards these goals. The expert taskforce will come up with ways to achieve these targets, challenge how ambitions are being delivered, and hold all parties to account for achieving the targets at both the national and local level.
All of this builds on the Government’s record investment of almost £400 million in grassroots facilities across the UK – including multi-sport pitches and facilities, swimming pools and park tennis courts – to ensure that people across the country have access to high-quality, accessible facilities. This is alongside over £600 million of public investment in school sport and PE in England over the next two years, with a focus on making it clear that girls must have the same access as boys – building on the success of the Lionesses at the Women’s FIFA World Cup, the Red Roses at the Rugby World Cup, and the Vitality Roses in netball.
Commenting on 'Get Active, Mims Davies MP, said:
As a keen sportswoman I am all too aware of the positive impact exercise has on our lives. During my time as a local councillor here, I set up the Haywards Heath Sports forum and founded the Mid Sussex Marathon weekend which is run across East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill across a weekend.
I'm a self-confessed "bad runner", but it's fairly addictive and I'm always hoping to get a little bit faster when I have the time to train.
Learning from my own experience, an active life is a happier, healthier and more prosperous life. I remain determined to make it easier for people in Mid Sussex to get physically active, and ensure the sport sector can thrive in the years ahead. I am confident this new strategy will help to achieve such ends.
You can read the strategy here.
