Devolution presents a major opportunity to improve access to sport and physical activity, supporting better health, wellbeing and growth.
By enabling stronger local collaboration and alignment, devolution can accelerate progress on inclusion and help more people and communities benefit from being active.
We know that there will be different paces of change and different approaches to local change, and we are mindful that this may bring uneven priorities and emerging pressures as new arrangements take shape.
As new strategic authorities gain wider powers, we must act deliberately to ensure that creating active and vibrant communities is at the heart of their ambition.
This aligns with our ambition of getting England active from the ground up, which will be the focus for the next five years of our Uniting the Movement strategy.
Acting on what we've learned from the first five years, we'll:
- Speak up for physical activity at national, regional and local levels, focusing on where we can have the biggest impact on participation and inequality. We will work with government, councils and local organisations to make physical activity part of key policies. Where most appropriate, we will fund Active Partnerships to bring people together locally. Nationally, we will work directly with government departments, so our efforts are joined up and more effective.
- Focus our place-based investment and influence proportionally where we can make the most impact and where inactivity and inequality are most pronounced, supporting local leaders to design and deliver solutions shaped by locally determined priorities and need.
- Share learning, data and evidence on what works, joined up approaches and evidence-led decision making.
- Champion partnership and collaboration, strengthening leadership, governance and decision-making, and taking a targeted and proportionate approach to co-investing in areas where need is greatest.
Our approach will be guided by the principle of 'proportionate universalism', focusing the greatest effort and investment in the most disadvantaged communities while ensuring all places benefit from learning and support.
We'll prioritise tackling inactivity and reducing inequalities, with a particular focus on children and young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and adults at risk of or with long-term health conditions.
