Active Partnerships respond to the latest Active Lives survey results for CYP

The latest Active Lives survey results for children and young people (CYP) have been released today and they show that there has been little movement in activity levels, with 3.3 million (47.8%) of 5 to 16 year olds taking part in sport and physical activity for an average of 60 minutes a day, and therefore meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines.

The results also show that stubborn inequalities remain, with girls and children from less affluent families still less likely to be active than boys and those children from more affluent families. Children from Asian, Black and other ethnic backgrounds are still the least likely to be active.

The report also highlights that those children and young people with two or more characteristics of inequality, such as Asian girls, are significantly less likely to be active than those with no inequality characteristics at all, which demonstrates that the work that Active Partnerships, and wider partners, do to tackle these inequalities is more vital than ever.

It is also clear from the report that the long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is still being felt on children and young people’s relationship with sport and physical activity, with children who were in nursery to school year 4 when the pandemic struck in 2020 having been particularly disadvantaged.

Andy Taylor, CEO for the Active Partnerships National Organisation, commented on the latest figures:

“Today’s Active Lives results, which cover the 2023-24 academic year, show that there has been little movement with activity levels, confirming that there is still a long way to go when it comes to achieving the increase that the network and the sector wants to see.

“Movement really matters to children’s physical and mental health but too many young people don’t get to experience the joy, wellbeing and sense of purpose that it provides. It’s also clear from these results that there needs to be an ongoing focus on children and young people that face inequalities when it comes to being active, and they will continue to need the most support.

“As a network we’re battling to break down these barriers so that every young person has the chance to form a life-long love of movement.

“Today’s results will hopefully highlight to the Government that, although there are obviously competing demands for funding, now is the time to invest in young people and their future. There is clearly a need to protect short-term funding for PE, school sport and physical activity, including the PE and School Sport Premium, the Opening School Facilities (OSF) programme and the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, all of which will I’m sure have contributed to maintaining current activity levels for children and young people.

“In particular, we have recently highlighted in letters to the Government the incredibly positive impact that the OSF programme that we deliver with a consortium of partners, has been having on the lives of young people across England. Through distributing funding from the Department for Education, more than 236,000 young people have taken part in the programme through more than 1,600 schools. A total of 96,151 sessions have been delivered so far.

“However, it is clear from the report that children are active outside of a school setting too, so there is a need to continue looking at the opportunities that young people have to be active in their local community. Our Active Partnerships, who are immersed in their local places with an expert knowledge of local people, communities, stakeholders and systems, need to be at the heart of this work.

“We would also welcome the opportunity to work with the Government and other partners to create a new long-term cross-sector plan to ensure that together we provide as many opportunities as possible for young people to be active both inside and outside of school.

“We fully support the Government’s ambition to break down barriers to opportunity and create this country’s healthiest and happiest generation of children ever and we truly believe that investing in sport, physical activity and movement is essential in order to achieve this aim.”

You can read more about the results from the Active Lives survey on the Sport England website.