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Exercise

Volume 490: debated on Thursday 26 March 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what methodology his Department uses to assess progress towards the target of two million people becoming more active by 2012; what date is being used as the baseline for the target; to which age groups the target is applied; what criteria are used to decide whether a person has become more active; and whether the target is applied to people with (a) mental health problems, (b) physical disabilities and (c) learning disabilities. (266053)

The Government's 2012 Legacy Action Plan (LAP), published in June 2008, sets a cross-Government target to get 2 million more adults active through sport and physical activity by 2012. DCMS and Sport England lead on getting 1 million more people doing more sport. A range of Government departments will deliver programmes that will increase wider physical activity. Many of these programmes are outlined in the Department of Health's (DoH) new Physical Activity Plan 'Be Active, Be Healthy" published on 11 February 2009.

Sport England's Active People survey will be the measure for the 2 million target. The baseline for the target will be established using the 2007-08 Active People survey, the results of which were published on 11 December 2008. The target is based on those adults aged 16 and over achieving three sessions of at least 30 minutes of at least moderate intensity activity per week. The target will also be informed by additional data collected on dance, active conservation and gardening from January 2009. A newly established Physical Activity Programme Board, chaired jointly by DoH and DCMS, will oversee the delivery of programmes against the LAP target.

The LAP target applies to all adults aged over 16. Both the Sport England Strategy and Be Active Be Healthy recognise that people with disabilities, ranging from physical and neurological to sensory impairments and learning disabilities are at particular risk from inactivity.