A West Midlands“Fit for the Future”

Janet BakerDeputy Regional Director of Public

Department of Health – West Midlands

“Take Your Partners” PAN-WM Annual Conference, 27th March 2007

• The challenges for the West Midlands• The emerging structures for physical activity• Regional strategy and its impacts on physical

activity• Regional priorities• What progress has been made• A challenge for the future• 5 top tips

The Challenge for the West Midlands

Participating in moderate intensity sport and active recreation on at least three days a week of 30 minutes duration (%)

ENGLISH REGIONS

22.6 21.9 21.3 20.8 20.6 20.5 20.5 20.1 19.321.0

0

5

10

15

20

25

South

East

South

Wes

t

Lond

on

East M

idlan

d

North

Wes

t

North

Eas

tEas

t

Yorks

hire

West

Mid

land

ENGLA

ND

Regional & National Comparison

England and West Midlands - frequency of participation

8.111.5

7.3

19.3

50.6

8.711.8

7.8

21.0

53.8

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Zero days 1 to 3 days 4 to 7 days(1x30)

8 to 11 days(2x30)

12plus(3x30)

No of days in last 28

Perc

ent

ENGLAND

WEST MIDLANDS

Highest participation local authority areas•Stafford (26%)

•Warwick (25%)

•Stratford-on- Avon (24%)

•Shrewsbury and Atcham (24%)

•Malvern Hills (23%)

West Midlands – regular participation (3 days 30 minutes a week)

Lowest participation local authority areas•Sandwell (15%)

•Stoke-on-Trent (16%)

•Walsall (16%)

•Wolverhampton (16%)

•Dudley (17%)

•Birmingham (17%)

Health Challenges in the West Midlands

• Life expectancy in the West Midlands ranges from 73.3 yrs near Birmingham New Street to 83.61 yrs in Lichfield Trent Valley.

• Higher than average levels of CHD & Cancer

• 27% of men and 26% women smoked in 2003, 2/3rds would like to quit

• 23% of men and 29% of women are obese

• 15.8% of children are obese

• 18% of people were found to have a likely mental health problem (RLS 2005)

• Statistics taken from the Choosing Health in the West Midlands report

% pupils who participated in at least 2 hours of high

quality PE and out of hours school sport in typical

week - analysed by Local Education Authority

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Local Authority

per

cen

tag

e o

f p

up

ils

Challenges & Targets

Nationally Sport England have an aspiration to increase the proportion taking part in moderate intensity sport and active recreation on at least 3 days a week for 30 minutes by 1% a year – and to narrow the inequalities in participation

This will result in an additional 2 million people from priority groups regularly participating in sport and active recreation in England by 2012

In the West Midlands the aspiration equates to 195,960 additional adult participants by 2012 (a growth of 32,660 a year)

Increasing Active Living, Play and Active Travel may be harder to measure but are key to driving up physical activity levels

Moving towards an active region

• 32,660 adults more active each year• 163 people more active through Parish

Path Partnerships (based on 200 PPP)

• 65 people more active per GP Practice (based on 500 Practices)

• 116 people more active per public sports/leisure centre

• 13 parents more active at every school

The Emerging Structure

West Midlands Physical Activity Network

Sub groups to Network – Exercise Referral, Research etc.

County Sports Partnerships

LA’sVoluntary

sector

West Midlands Strategic Group for Physical Activity

West Midlands Regional Assembly

WMRAHealth

Partnership

Regional Sports Board

Obesity Task

Group

Other Regional PartnershipsTransport, Environment, Culture

NGB’s

PCTs

Community Sport and Activity Networks

Government Office West Midlands Departments

2012 Leadership & Advisory

Groups

Other regional partnerships; TravelWise, Youth Dance, Cycling etc

Working in Partnership

Families and CommunitiesLocal Strategic Partnerships

Local Authorities

Leisure servicesEmployers & Workplaces

NHS

Schools and colleges

Regional Plan for Sport in the West Midlands

Regional Strategies & Physical Activity

• Regional Spatial Strategy• Regional Economic

Strategy• Regional Housing

Strategy• Regional Cultural Strategy• Regional Forestry

Framework• Regional Plan for Sport• Regional Health and Well-

Being Strategy

Influencing Regional Partners

Challenges

• Physical Activity is everyone's and no ones challenge

• Cross Cutting Agendas• Targets

Opportunities• Knowledge of key players –

GOWM, WMRA, Sport England, AWM, Culture West Midlands, RAWM

• Recognise agendas of others and align physical activity to this

• National Ministerial Lead on Cross Government work on Physical Activity

• PAN-WM• The Delivery System for Sport • Active Travel, Play, Countryside &

Dance infrastructure• 2012

Taking Advantage of Regional Developments

• PAN-WM providing a Regional Voice for Physical Activity

• Delivery System for Sport – get involved• Respond to strategy and policy consultation – it

matters!• 2 way communication from region to local and vice

versa through delivery system for sport, PAN-WM, Regional Travel groups.

• Networking opportunities• Sharing of information• Use knowledge to influence local Policy & Strategy

Regional Priorities – Physical Activity

• Increasing physical activity levels in children and Young people – especially at key “drop out” times (primary & secondary school transitions and post secondary school)

• Increasing activity levels in the most sedentary

• Developing an active workforce• Active Ageing• Improved Monitoring and Evaluation• Decreasing barriers to being active for

priority groups• Meeting PSA Targets – Sport, PE,

Obesity, Green and Open Space

Choosing Health: Choosing Activity – An update

• 100 commitments stated in the Choosing Activity: physical activity action plan (2005)

• At the last count 59 of these had been met in their entirety (early 2007)

• Continued commitment to deliver across Region

Moving Forwards

• 9 LAA’s with Sport/physical activity/leisure targets• 6 CSP’s developing CSN’s• PAN-WM operational• Plethora of programmes• Met 2006 PESSCL target – 75% schools providing 2 hours of quality

P.E.• Met 2006 Healthy Schools Target• Met 2006 RSS School Travel Target (40% of schools to have travel

plans)• 18 PCT’s developing physical activity programmes (PCT Audit 2006) • 2 LA’s awarded BLF funding for Play Strategies – rest developing • Regional Portfolio gone forward to stage 2 of BLF Well Being fund• £3.3 million awarded in CIF funding (Sport England)• 24 Active England Projects running • £9.8 million awarded through Active England Programme (Capital &

Revenue)

The Challenge

• If we meet the 1% increase PSA target and so does every other region – we will still be the least active region.

• If we exceed the 1% increase target – we may not be the least active region!

If we decrease the % of people doing no activity have we succeeded?

To not be the least Active Region by 2009/10 This is our real challenge!!

5 Top Tips

• Understand each other’s agendas and show how your agenda enables/aids them to meet their’s

• Take opportunities to influence Regional & Local Policy & Strategy – It matters! Strength in numbers!

• Sharing information & Networking will be key to meeting targets

• Strive to not just meet but exceed targets• Be realistic – recognise the challenge and the

resources needed to overcome it.

Thank you for listening

Any Questions?