Deputy CMO presents at Active Partnerships National Organisation’s AGM

The Active Partnership National Organisation’s (APNO) AGM was held last week (7 December) and the charity’s work over the last twelve months was highlighted by Chair of the Board, Dave Capper and Chief Executive Officer, Andy Taylor.

The pair updated those in attendance on the progress that had been made and the changes to the organisation, as well as referencing the publication of the APNO’s first strategy six months ago, before looking ahead to key areas of work in 2024.

This included highlighting the Active Partnerships network’s continued involvement in some major programmes in the year ahead, such as the sport welfare officers network and place expansion, as well as outlining some of APNO’s specific objectives for the next twelve months.

These objectives include shoring up a fit for purpose structure to deliver against the strategy and the organisation’s role within the network, a greater focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, and continuing to drive shared learning across the network.

The focus of the AGM then turned to the network’s Health Working Group, with Beth Sutcliffe from GM Moving highlighting work that the group had been doing on targeting inactivity and designing movement and physical activity into health and care.

To shine a light on this huge area of work in the last twelve months, which will continue to be a key focus for the Active Partnerships network for the foreseeable future, attendees of the AGM were joined on the call by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer and co-lead of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy, to lead a discussion about the health benefits of physical activity and the work that’s being done to integrate it into health and care.

As Dr de Gruchy said during her presentation: “The biggest health gains come from getting people who are completely inactive to be active in some way. We need to challenge ourselves to think differently about how we can make this happen and work across sectors.

“Just over 50% of children and nearly 40% of adults do not meet the UK CMOs’ physical activity guidelines which clearly shows the scale of the challenge. We need to support our children and young people to get physically active because it has such important health gains across the life course, both physical and mental.”

Commenting on the Active Lives Children and Young People survey, the results from which were published on the day of the AGM, Dr de Gruchy said: “The latest figures show some positive signs, for example girls are more active than they were, but there are also concerning widening inequalities for young people which we need to continue to work together to address”.

You can read about the APNO response to the Active Lives CYP survey results here.

During the final part of the AGM, outgoing board trustee Mike Sandys, plus Amanda Pierce Higgins and Tom Douglas, who left the board earlier in the year, were also thanked by the Chair, Dave Capper, for their support throughout their tenure.

Dave Capper said: “I want to take this opportunity to place on record my thanks for the trustees who have stepped down this year. Our trustees have played a huge role, especially during the last eighteen months when the organisation has gone through a period of transition.

“We’ve also welcomed new trustees in the last twelve months, including Julie Amies, Born Barikor, Neil Fletcher and Jack Shakespeare. Each of them brings a great deal of expertise in their different specialisms, and so we look forward to their valuable contributions.”

Recruitment to fill further vacancies on the board of trustees for the Active Partnerships National Organisation will begin in early 2024.