Agenda item

To provide an update on the progress and delivery of the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy.

The Deputy Leader of the Council presented the report.

A review of the Council’s website and social media activity had been undertaken with a view to continuing to support a variety of stakeholders and organisations with their events and to provide residents with physical activity opportunities across South Kesteven.  This included a link to the Slow Ways initiative which was discussed at the previous Committee meeting in June 2022. 

Physical Activity initiatives for Council employees were implemented in January 2023, starting with the #TeamSK step challenge in which 120 participants enrolled.  A range of other activities also commenced such as the Wednesday Walk, which averages eight walkers per week and weekly ‘Let’s Get Physical’ information packs which were distributed to all staff and included diet and wellbeing advice.  A week of free fitness classes at Bourne and Grantham took place during January 2023 where 11 Council employees trialled fitness classes to kickstart a new habit.  Positive feedback was obtained about the wellbeing initiatives and a total of 288 views were recorded on the digital information packs. 

Officers continued to develop strong collaboration with our partner organisations, stakeholders and communities, without them achieving the Council’s corporate ambition of Healthy and Strong Communities would not have been possible.  Officers from the Council’s Leisure Team had actively been attending:

• Monthly leisure leads meetings with Active Lincolnshire

• Monthly UKActive webinars

• Workshops with Sport England and the Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association (CLOA)

• The Ageing and Physical Activity network meetings, led by The University of Lincoln to stay up to date with the latest trends and remain up to date with the regional and national picture.

In November 2022, Officer’s attended the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Sports and Leisure Seminar which looked at a range of leisure specific challenges including decarbonisation, ageing facilities and the rise in local authority trading companies managing leisure facilities.  The ‘Activity Finder’ developed by Active Lincolnshire, now boasted an impressive 260 activities or clubs on the website, providing residents in South Kesteven with an online tool to find activities in their local area.  In collaboration with Active Lincolnshire and the Council’s Housing Team, work began to identify opportunities for physical activity and wellbeing for residents living in sheltered housing and council houses within South Kesteven.  As part of a workshop, emphasis was placed on gaining a better understanding of the lives of the residents, the places they live and the connection points for residents within various council services. 

Council Officers had been working in partnership with ‘We are Undefeatable’, which was a campaign consisting of fifteen leading health and social care charities, funded by the National Lottery in conjunction with Sport England. The aim is to support people living with a range of long-term health conditions to move more in a way that works for them.  One You Lincolnshire was the county’s free health and wellbeing programme designed to help residents to become healthier with a variety of free activities.  Support was provided to help individuals make small, sustainable changes to improve their health and wellbeing and live a longer, happier life.  In January 2023, the Council supported One You Lincolnshire with the launch of their new programme ‘Heart & Sole’, using Wyndham Park Visitor Centre as the hub for the launch. A total of 57 residents registered for the 12-week programme targeted to get residents moving who were not completing the desired 150 minutes of physical activity per week.

LeisureSK Ltd benefitted from an increase on registrations for their Exercise on Prescription programme, a 12-week structured physical activity programme following referral by a health care professional and was aimed at those doing less than 150 mins of physical activity a week. There are currently 50 participants on the programme across South Kesteven, with a further 51 on the waiting list.

Since the adoption of the Strategy in December 2021, the latest Active Lives Survey data had been published including data on both adults and young people.  The survey results for adults (16 years+) showed that during this period, 54.7% of adults in South Kesteven were considered active, completing at least 150 minutes of activity a week. 15% were considered fairly active, completing 30-149 minutes of activity per week.  However, 30.2% adults were considered inactive, completing less than 30 minutes activity a week.  The results demonstrate a 6.8% decline in those considered active from the data available November 2019 – November 2020.  The data showed across England 47.2% of children and young people (3.4 million) were meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines of taking part in sport and physical activity for an average of 60 minutes or more every day.  Meanwhile, 30.1% (2.2 million) do less than an average of 30 minutes a day. In comparison, the results for South Kesteven for the same period demonstrated 46.4% of children and young people were considered to be active, which is up by 0.9% on the previous year. 25% of children and young people were considered to be fairly active, which is up by 4.8% on the previous year, whilst 28.9% of children and young people were considered to be less active, which represented a reduction of 5.4% compared to the previous year.

Members welcomed the report.

It was proposed, seconded, and AGREED that the Culture and Visitor Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a)         Considered the results of the latest Active Lives data available for South Kesteven and agreed to consider the results of future Active Lives survey data as part of the regular six-monthly updates provided.

b)         No enhancements were suggested at this time to the extent and clarity of the information produced for the next six-monthly update report.