Agenda item

Matt Evans updated the Board on progress towards reaching the Board’s Priority one objective of Exeter being the most physically active city in the South West by 2018 and recommended further work to increase the amount of physical activity by citizens and reduce inactivity and health inequality.

Since 2005, the only nationally recognised tool for measuring levels of physical activity participation robustly had been Sport England’s annual survey ‘Active People’. The Active People Survey (APS) provided the most authoritative picture of sports participation in England but, because of its focus on organised activity, did not capture beneficial physical activity such as cycle-commuting to work or gardening. As a result, a replacement survey known has Active Lives had been run in tandem since November 2015.The two surveys had different methodologies.

APS results had showed that Exeter had attained the highest percentages across South West cities for the most recent period to 2016, and therefore it could be claimed that Exeter was the most physically active city in the South West and the Board’s Priority one objective had been reached one year before its target set of 2018.

The Active Lives Survey (ALS), would make it possible to measure some of the Key Performance Indicators identified for the sector in the Government’s strategy ‘Sporting Future’ and provide a more nuanced understanding of behaviour. Again, in terms of overall engagement with sport and physical activity, Exeter did very well, being the third city in England behind Oxford and Cambridge to have the highest percentage of adults (aged 16+) who had taken part in sport and physical activity.

Sarah Gibbs challenged the use of the APS survey and it was felt that partners who had prioritised and committed to the physical activity targets may wish to refer to the nationally recognised survey data in their own publicity.

Sport England were to introduce 10 Local Delivery Pilots across the country which was one of seven investment strands in its new strategy. During a recent visit to Exeter Joel Brookfield of Sport England had met with Board Members, City Council officers and Members and Strategic Sports Board Members. He had also attended briefings on Get Active Exeter and the work of Exeter City Football in the Community Trust. He had advised on Local Delivery Pilots in general terms. 

The pilots would be deliberately focused on the whole place, not just the sporting infrastructure and the broader involvement of partners from beyond the sports sector as part of any partnership was expected.

It was felt that Exeter’s existing infrastructure and governance arrangements, both with the Exeter Health and Wellbeing Board and the Strategic Sports Board, placed it in a good position. A further strength would be the links with other key initiatives including Integrated Care in Exeter, Exeter City Futures, together with the potential synergy with initiatives such as Sugar Smart Exeter, and bodies such as Exeter Community Forum and Exeter Community Safety Partnership, Well-being Exeter and onesmallstep (the new healthy lifestyle service for Devon).

The bid would need to be collaborative and led by the needs of the local place, which would not necessarily need to be confined to local authority boundaries but encompass a geographical place. The question was raised as to whether a ‘Greater Exeter’, that is, the City and its urban fringe, would be acceptable and potentially useful. Matt Evans confirmed that, for the grant programme, it would and that it would require agreement and collaboration amongst the key strategic leaders from those neighbouring city fringe areas. Innovation in the application of new technology, smart use of data and social media designed to encourage the many out of inactivity into active lifestyles as the norm, was likely to feature in any pilot.

Members from this Board were to attend Sport England workshops on 13 February. Members were asked to alert the Active Exeter group and other key groups to the importance of the forthcoming Local Delivery Pilot application process and thus the likely need for urgent input towards developing a strong expression of interest. Jo Yelland suggested that much of the data collected as part of the ICE programme would be of potential value.

RESOLVED that the Board support:-

(1)        the celebration and publication of progress, impact and achievements that have been made in the City with this initiative to further encourage greater physical activity amongst citizens;

(2)        determining a revised priority relating to physical activity and committing to sustaining participation amongst people who are already active and further enhancing and accelerating greater participation in physical activity, particularly with those citizens currently inactive and fairly active and in those specific groups where physical activity is generally lower; and

(3)        alongside other key cross-partner groups in Exeter (for example Greater Exeter Strategic Sports Board, Integrated Care Exeter, Active Exeter etc.), express an interest and a strong subsequent application to Sport England for the City of Exeter to be a Local Delivery Pilot as part of its investment strategy for tacking inactivity and improving physical activity amongst the population.