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I’ve never heard anyone say “I wish my child had more screen time”.

But a clip from BBC Breakfast over the summer provided an interesting insight about what time in front of a screen can mean to some children and young people.

On the clip, we heard a girl respond to what she would do with the nine hours she typically spends online over a weekend if proposed social media restrictions for under-16s came into force.

Her answer was bold, unequivocal and somehow devastating: "…stare at a wall."

It was a funny moment, but it also pointed to something deeper.

The Youth Matters: State of the Nation survey gathered insights from more than 14,000 young people aged 11-25 and it paints a concerning picture.

The study highlights that despite being the most digitally connected generation ever, many young people are experiencing loneliness, poor wellbeing and social disconnection.

Yet their message about what would improve their lives is clear: access to safe spaces, trusted adults, better mental health support and more opportunities to take part in activities that help them connect, develop and belong.

This is why last week’s government announcement on enrichment deserves attention, as there’s a growing recognition of the role enrichment can play in supporting young people's wellbeing, development and life chances.

What do we mean by ‘enrichment’?

Enrichment refers to activities and experiences beyond the formal curriculum.

‘Sport and physical activity’ is recognised as one of five core enrichment categories, alongside arts and culture, civic engagement, nature and outdoor learning, and wider life and future skills.

At its best, enrichment does far more than keeping children and young people occupied.

It helps them discover interests, build confidence, develop relationships and gain skills that support them throughout life.

For many young people, particularly those facing disadvantage, these opportunities can be transformational.

Importantly, enrichment is increasingly being recognised not as an optional extra, but as a key part of supporting children and young people's development and wellbeing.

A new enrichment framework

In June, the Department for Education published the enrichment framework for schools and colleges, which provides schools with non-statutory guidance on creating high-quality enrichment offers.

Built around eight benchmarks, the framework reflects principles that many across the youth, education and sport sectors have long championed, including:

• designing opportunities around young people's needs, interests and voices
• making activities accessible, inclusive and enjoyable for all
• supporting participation among those facing the greatest barriers
• building strong partnerships between schools and community organisations
• understanding the impact of enrichment on wellbeing, engagement and personal development.

The Enrichment Expansion programme

Alongside the framework, the government has recently announced the Enrichment Expansion programme, backed by £22.5m and delivered via a cross-sector partnership led by the Youth Sport Trust.

The programme will support around 400 secondary schools to strengthen and co-ordinate their enrichment offer, with a particular focus on developing partnerships with local providers and community organisations.

A broader national commitment

The Enrichment Expansion programme sits within a wider package of investment designed to improve opportunities for children and young people.

This includes Every Child Can, a £132.5 million programme funded through dormant assets that will support enrichment opportunities across England, which includes after school, at weekends and during school holidays.

These developments align with the ambition within the National Youth Strategy to halve the participation gap in enrichment activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035.

Alongside wider investment in youth services, facilities and trusted adult relationships, these announcements represent a strong signal that enrichment is moving towards the centre of policy discussions about young people's wellbeing and future prospects.

What does this mean for the sport and physical activity sector?

For those working across sport and physical activity, these announcements are very welcome and recognise that sport is about far more than participation.

High-quality experiences of sport and physical activity can help young people build confidence, develop meaningful social connections, enhance their wellbeing, build valuable life skills, and establish a positive lifelong relationship with movement and physical activity, which we describe as physical literacy.

However, this should not be viewed simply as a challenge to create more opportunities.

The real opportunity is to ensure experiences are meaningful, inclusive, shaped around young people's needs and embedded within the local community.

The strongest enrichment offers will be those that bring together schools, youth services, clubs and community organisations around a shared goal: helping young people feel safe, connected and valued.

If the debate about social media has highlighted anything, it is that simply taking something away is not enough. Young people need compelling alternatives.

A positive experience of being active is something that all young people should have and, if we get it right, perhaps fewer young people will feel that their only alternative to being online is staring at a wall.

Last week I finally plucked up courage to have my BioAge measured at an EGYM showroom by St Paul's Cathedral, London.

I still have an inbuilt phobia of getting things checked out, even when there’s nothing to worry about, and I was very pleased to learn that my BioAge (that is how old my organs are compared to the numbers of birthdays I've celebrated so far) is in fact 37-years-old – a good 16 years younger than my actual age.

By coincidence, 37 was the exact age when I started my fitness journey.

Having not exercised since school, I’d gradually put on a few pounds every year and a heath check had told me I was on the borderline of being obese.

I’d signed up my old team at 20th Century Fox to an ambitious team challenge – to climb 20 peaks across the Lake District over 20 hours – and didn’t want to be the 'overweight managing director' holding people back!

And just as that experience was the kick off for me, this National Fitness Day we’re looking to welcome millions to start, or restart, their fitness journey.

Reflecting on the EGYM experience, there’s so much more to fitness than simply losing weight and also so many ways to measure success.

There’s strength, mobility and, most importantly, how you feel both physically and mentally.

These days we have the technology and insight to help people with personalised training plans that are right for them, and with so many ways to get moving.

A few weeks ago, I was inspired by a member of the team who’d taken his daughter on her first parkrun, and I decided to take may own teenage daughter out for her debut parkrun in Cheltenham.

It was great to see such an eclectic range of people out early(ish) on a Saturday morning, to run without fear of judgement or failure, just to be out there being active.

Our research shows that any form of activity – be that walking or short workouts at home – significantly increases people’s confidence in their physical health, and their intent to join a health club, gym or leisure centre.

Plus our latest consumer polling shows that sense of community, connection and friendship is also found in our nation’s gyms and leisure centres, across all generations.

Of course, it’s the first step that can be the hardest, followed by the consistency needed to turn those first efforts into regular, life-long habits.

Our industry has many great pathways so activity levels are slowly trending upwards, but activity is unequally distributed with many barriers still existing. 

These barriers can be cost and convenience, but they exist in areas super served by facilities as well as those where they’re few and far between.

The biggest barrier is in the mind – it's the uncertainty about where to start, the fear of not fitting in and the gap between wanting to change and actually showing up. National Fitness Day exists to collapse that gap.

This year we're working with organisations across the sector, as well as schools, community groups, employers and others to make that first step easy, fun and frictionless.

Free taster sessions, beginner-friendly groups, times that fit real life – all ‘Powered by You’, our theme for this year.

Because that's what National Fitness Day is for – not for people who've already decided they're fit, but for the millions like my 16-year-younger self who have a reason to be active but are looking for a way to start.

If you've been thinking about it, this is the week! This is the perfect time to take that first step.

The CEO of ASF, Shazia Ali, has worked in the research industry for nearly 30 years and champions the importance of hearing real human stories to ensure that real people and communities are behind strategies developed.

A personal perspective

For instance, for Raheema Mamodo, joining parkrun led to a sense of connection she wasn't expecting.

Her first parkrun experience was for her graduation run at the end of Couch to 5K and she confessed she had "no idea of what to expect when the run leader suggested we attend".

Raheema mentioned it felt “overwhelming” being surrounded by runners, yet she felt welcomed straight away and loved all the cheering from fellow participants.

They made her feel like she belonged in that space too and she's carried on attending parkrun since that first event over seven years ago.

Having recently achieved her 250-parkrun milestone, Raheema's experience highlights the powerful role that welcoming environments can play in helping people stay active.

Looking ahead

South Asian Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate the rich contribution of South Asian communities across the UK. 

It is also an opportunity to listen, learn and better understand how sport and physical activity can be more inclusive for everyone.

ASF and parkrun are at the beginning of that journey.

By working alongside communities, hearing different perspectives and learning from lived experiences, we hope to build a stronger understanding of what belonging in physical activity really means and how more people can be supported to take part in ways that work for them.

Because lasting change starts with listening and, by walking together, we go further.

As England continues to experience a period of sustained heat, the latest evidence suggests that spells of extended hot weather are becoming an increasingly important difficulty when trying to be active.

Following the June heatwave, our Activity Check-in has shown that 71% of adults said they had experienced extreme heat during the previous 12 months.

Among those who had to endure extreme heat, 73% said they had done less sport and physical activity as a result.

Our study also says that the proportion saying the weather in the previous seven days was not suitable for being active increased almost fivefold, from 5% in August 2025 to 24.5% in June 2026.

Cost, time and confidence have long been recognised as obstacles to being active. These findings suggest that prolonged periods of hot weather are becoming another.

Not that hot weather is anything new. But the frequency of occurrence and the new highs reached are challenging resilience, and can turn opportunities for taking part in sport and physical activity from merely uncomfortable to unattainable for many individuals and communities.

Extreme weather is often framed in long-term and global terms, but it is undoubtedly already shaping when and how people take part in sport and physical activity today.

A hotter climate is already here

The past two years have shown how quickly weather patterns are changing.

June 2025 was England's warmest June on record, with two heatwaves during the month and temperatures across parts of eastern and south-eastern England around 3°C above the long-term average.

That record was surpassed in just one year as June 2026 then became England's new warmest June on record with a mean temperature of 17.1°C and temperatures reaching 37.7°C during the heatwave towards the end of the month.

For the sport and physical activity sector this is no longer simply an environmental challenge. Heat is becoming a participation issue.

Previous research has already shown that climate change risks widening existing inequalities in sport and physical activity.

These latest findings build on that picture, suggesting that prolonged periods of hot weather are already affecting people's ability and willingness to be active.

What did we find?

We compared findings from two Activity Check-in surveys: one from August 2025, shortly after the June 2025 heatwaves; and one from June 2026, carried out immediately following that month's heatwave.

The proportion reporting exposure to extreme heat during the previous 12 months almost doubled, increasing from 37% in August 2025 to 71% in June 2026.

Among those who had experienced heatwaves, 73.2% said they had done less sport and physical activity because of them, compared with 63.1% in August 2025.

When asked about barriers to activity, there was also a marked increase in the number saying the weather was not suitable for being active during the previous seven days.

While both surveys followed record-breaking periods of hot weather, the latest findings suggest the June 2026 heatwave had an even greater impact on participation.

Why does heat affect participation?

There is still more to learn about exactly how prolonged heat affects participation in England, but there are several likely factors.

For some, particularly older adults and those living with long-term health conditions, exercising in high temperatures can become physically more demanding and may raise concerns about health and safety.

This means these groups, along with disabled people, may experience the greatest challenges during prolonged periods of heat - showing how the impact of extreme weather is unlikely to be felt equally.

Heat can also reduce opportunities to be active.

Outdoor spaces may become uncomfortable or unsafe to use, organised activities may be adapted or cancelled, and travel disruption can make it more difficult to reach facilities.

Even where opportunities remain available, motivation can change.

When daily life already feels harder because of heat, being active may feel less appealing or less manageable.

What does this mean for grassroots sport?

Let’s face it – the climate crisis is already affecting how sport is delivered.

Grassroots sport relies heavily on outdoor facilities, volunteers and community organisations.

Many clubs are already managing the impacts of flooding during winter only to face hard, dry pitches and prolonged periods of hot weather during the summer months.

Climate impacts already cost grassroots sport circa £320 million annually in repairs and lost income.

These effects are not distributed evenly, with more deprived communities often more exposed to climate hazards and with fewer resources to respond.

This reflects a broader picture emerging from our Horizon Scanning work: climate change is increasingly shaping when and where people engage in sport and physical activity.

More frequent extreme weather, alongside changing travel patterns and sustainability goals, is expected to influence participation over the coming years.

These findings suggest those longer-term trends are already beginning to play out.

The sector has adapted to changing patterns of participation before and high heat may become another long-term trend that influences how people choose to be active.

Understanding those changes early gives the sector the opportunity to adapt before they become embedded.

With action now, sport can become more resilient, inclusive and sustainable.

Building the evidence

Our data allows us to understand how people's experiences change as events unfold, rather than relying on reflection months later.

Capturing people's experiences immediately after periods of extreme heat has helped us to better understand who is most affected, how behaviours change and where adaptation may be needed.

If you'd like to explore the findings in more detail, our Activity Check-in interactive dashboard includes data on activity levels, motivation, attitudes and barriers to participation, alongside climate-related questions, for both adults and children and young people.

Looking ahead

Heatwaves are becoming a more familiar feature of life in England.

Climate change is no longer happening somewhere else or is an issue for the future. It is shaping experiences and behaviours today.

For the sport and physical activity sector, the challenge is understanding what this means for participation, who is most affected and how we respond.

By continuing to build our understanding of how weather influences participation, we can help the sector adapt to support everyone to be active safely, confidently and consistently in the years ahead.

If you'd like to share your experiences or explore the findings in more detail, we'd love to hear from you.

To some, 'devolution' might sound like a dry constitutional tweak – another layer of governance, another reshuffling of power. 

In reality, it’s actually far more human and ultimately, it’s all about people.  

For us in Greater Manchester, devolution has always been about who gets to shape the conditions of everyday life and about enabling those closest to the challenges to also have the power to solve them.

This is what drives us to go further and deeper on our devolution journey.

Facing reality

Back in 2009, the Manchester Independent Economic Review set out two stark truths.

Firstly that if the city-region acted as one joined-up place, it had the potential to help re-balance the UK economy; and secondly, that poor health in the area was holding people back from participating in that growth.  

In some of our neighbourhoods, healthy life expectancy still differs by more than a decade and access to employment, housing, green space and opportunity remains uneven.

These problems are one and the same because health and wealth inequalities are deeply intertwined, and physical inactivity is at the heart of it, yet this isn’t a result of personal choice but a product of environment, policy, culture and design work.  

Movement and physical activity have often been engineered out of daily life, especially in communities facing the greatest disadvantage.

By 2015, when the first Greater Manchester Moving strategy – Blueprint for Change – was developed, the data was clear.

Where inequality was top level, inactivity was also the highest; and the costs – financial, social and human – were enormous.

A true change of tactics against inactivity

The price of inactivity was at least £27 million a year and far higher if you took into account the cost of long-term conditions, mental health, social isolation and the impact of exclusion.  

The response couldn’t be another short-term campaign or an isolated programme. The people of Greater Manchester deserved better.

We needed to reshape the whole system – from transport to planning, from health to education and from workplaces to public spaces.  

This meant a shift from blaming individuals for being inactive and unhealthy (indeed 55% of people in our city-region wanted to be more active), to redesigning the conditions that were shaping their behaviour.

Devolution in Greater Manchester, along with the support of key partners like Sport England, has made that kind of systemic change possible.

This approach has made it possible to have power over health, transport, housing and skills for the people and places they affect but, more importantly, it has enabled us to work differently. 



The way we work now is rooted in collaboration across ten boroughs, public services, communities and sectors. We are one team! 

In Greater Manchester, prior to devolution, we already had the foundations and had laid the groundwork for this approach as we have a history of cooperation that stretches back generations. 

Devolution accelerated that instinct and drive as it gave us the space and opportunity to align strategies, pool resources and focus on our shared mission of building a thriving city-region where everyone can live a good and active life. This is making a difference.

Evidence suggests that life expectancy has improved faster than expected since devolution, particularly in more deprived areas.  

Employment, school readiness and public health outcomes have all shown signs of progress.  

In terms of physical activity, Greater Manchester reduced inactivity at nearly three times the national rate before the pandemic and has since recovered more quickly.

The latest data shows that in Greater Manchester, 62.1% of adults are now considered active. This is the highest rate ever recorded and there is further progress too, with inactivity falling to 26.9%, down from 28.3%.

Data shows that activity levels for children and young people in Greater Manchester are also the highest they’ve been since the survey began in 2017 and, currently, 50.1% of those aged 5-16 are active for at least 60 minutes a day.

But inequalities remain, particularly for people living in more deprived areas, lower socio-economic groups and for some ethnic communities.

So, while this is encouraging progress, a continued focus is needed to enable active lives for all and to keep the MIER report front of mind.

Moving forward as one

These changes are the result of systems that are maturing, where there is better alignment between local and regional strategies, stronger partnerships, and growing trust across sectors.  

They also reflect a deep cultural change in leadership that drives everything we do.

Here, leadership is more than job titles and institutions – it’s relational, distributed and rooted in a shared purpose. 

Leadership seen in community groups is as important as that of boardrooms because, for us, it is about convening, listening and connecting. 

We are united by the same goal of helping people see how movement links to the issues they care about, from jobs and growth to mental health and climate.

Devolution supports us in this work, but it doesn’t guarantee it. Local power alone isn’t enough and mindsets, behaviours and relationships matter just as much.  

The instinct to collaborate doesn’t come from governance structures alone – it comes from people and that’s the real lesson here.

Whether a place has formal devolved powers or not, the fundamentals still apply and it all starts with a shared vision.  

We use a central community voice, work collaboratively across boundaries and build trust by aligning efforts around outcomes that matter.

Our journey in Greater Manchester’s is far from finished (we are only five years into our 10-year Active Lives for All strategy), but we are an example of what is possible when a place brings together its people, purpose and power. 

To my mind, devolution isn’t about redrawing maps. It’s about redesigning systems so that everyone – regardless of where they live – has a fair chance at a good life.

When many people think of Pride, they picture crowded streets, loud music and a little too much drinking.

But after four years serving on the Board of Pride in London, I began to feel there was space and a real need for something different to express new ways for our community to come together.

Wellbeing opportunities

As we emerged from lockdown, many people in my sapphic community told me they were craving spaces centred around wellbeing, nature and the outdoors. 

In my case, it was watching the joy on people’s faces after one of our first wild swims that inspired me to launch the UK’s first-ever Pride Swim in 2023.

Swimming is such an accessible sport, welcoming people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.



We took a pause this year, but we’re excited to bring Pride Swim back in 2027 in partnership with an LGBTQ+ charity. Watch this space!

Looking ahead to 2026, we’re returning to Devon for our second year.

With the coast just a short drive away, we’ll be offering sea swims and surf sessions and we’re currently in talks with Devon Cricket about hosting a relaxed beach cricket session.

We’ll also be partnering with a local outdoor centre to deliver stand-up paddleboarding, archery and mountain boarding too, while our run coach will lead a Saturday morning group run.

Looking out for more activity partners

Our ambition is to grow Out & Wild to more than 2,000 attendees over the next two years, and sport will be an integral part of that journey.

We’ve already worked with a number of governing bodies – particularly in Wales, where the festival first launched – and we’d love to build more partnerships in the future, not only at the festival itself but through the year-round events we now run.

We’re excited to keep finding sport and physical activity opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community, so if you're a sporting organisation looking to engage with these groups in meaningful ways, we’d love to hear from you.

This year the Out & Wild Festival will take place from 3-6 July in Bideford, Devon, so come and join us to celebrate and take advantage of the amazing offerings from our festival.



Everybody is welcome!