In May we asked Martyn Allison to facilitate a meeting of the Local Government Physical Activity Partnership to review the progress in implementing the Future of Public Sector Leisure report (published by Sport England in 2022).
We agreed that this needed to be done in light of the changing policy and financial context and ahead of a new government. Little did we know at the time, that the calling of an election, was so imminent.
The session was called ‘joining the dots’, reflecting the perceived need to make better sense of and better ‘join up’ the many different initiatives taking place across the sport and activity sector such as new models of public leisure provision, the expansion of place working, workforce developments and wider public sector system change, including the implementation of the Integrated Care Systems.
Anticipating a new political landscape, and the ongoing pressures on resourcing, it was envisaged that we would now need a more coherent narrative, that a new government would understand and hopefully support. Subsequently, Martyn collaborated with several like-minded people to bring together their progressive thinking and practical leadership experiences in a report that promotes a new vision for a national ‘Active Wellbeing Service’, that has prevention at its heart, and can be delivered locally.
Preventative and impactful approaches are now happening, but it is restricted to isolated pockets of good practice. Stimulated by local leadership and collaborative working, some good practices are slowly yielding new investment from Integrated Care Systems and Councils. In turn, they are producing independently verified evidence, that they are making a real impact not only on the health of individuals but on population health and tackling health inequalities. If only these could now be scaled up and expanded, we could see real change everywhere.
The report deliberately looks at two ways. To a new government to try to influence future policy. Maybe when things improve economically, future resourcing will be possible; Secondly, and importantly, to the cross-sector local leadership itself, to drive the changes and play an important role in ‘knitting together’, place-based preventative solutions. The report explains why change is needed and in a series of case studies shows that change is already happening, with some impressive results. It suggests some things that a new government, ICSs, councils and the sector could do to scale the results at speed; by using existing assets and resources better.
In July the report was considered and supported by the new and evolving Place-based Physical Activity Leadership Network, as a starting point for creating the Active Wellbeing Service; it is now being shared, by all of the network more widely, to consult others and generate more ideas.
Finally, we must record our thanks to the many people who have helped us pull this report together by contributing their thinking, knowledge, experiences, case studies and enthusiasm for change.
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