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3 June 2004
The CCPR is the umbrella body for 270 national organisations for sport and recreation; it represents and promotes the interests of voluntary sector sport and recreation. The CCPR welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation and believes that voluntary sector sport and recreation has a positive role to play in improving the health of the nation.
CCPR strongly believes that the promotion of physical activity should form a central part of any government strategy aimed at improving public health. This is because physical activity provides such a positive message- Many public health campaigns are necessarily centred on a negative message, say no to smoking, fast food, excessive alcohol consumption. Whilst the diffusion of such messages into the public conscience is essential, physical activity has the benefit of being a ‘yes’ factor.
Furthermore, physical activity has many health benefits . There is clear evidence that those who are more active are less likely to suffer from Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), stroke, Type II Diabetes, hypertension, colorectal cancer, stress, anxiety, osteo-arthritis, osteoporosis, depression and lower back pain. Those who are regularly active before a serious illness are more likely to make a swift recovery.
The economic argument for investment in sport and recreation is a strong one. For health policy, the public health costs of inactivity are huge. Money is saved by the prevention of obesity and related conditions. Investing in organisations encouraging more of the population to engage in regular physical activity, is a good buy for public health.
This response focuses on the positive impact that the voluntary sector can make to the nation’s health by increasing levels of physical activity and offering unique and innovative solutions to public health problems.
The CCPR believes that voluntary sector sport and recreation organisations have a crucial role to play in improving the health and physical activity participation levels of the population. Voluntary sector sport and recreation organisations are in a unique position to make a positive impact on health and the reduction of health inequalities as a result of their distinctiveness.
The range and breadth of voluntary and community physical activity organisations, and the activities they seek to promote, is important to recognise. As well as the organised team sports, the sector contains many movement and dance organisations where individuals participate most commonly for health and pleasure and occasionally in competitive settings. Moreover, the sector contains many walking and other organisations that primarily promote active lifestyles.
Firstly, these organisations have a commendable record of engaging traditionally ‘hard to reach’ groups in activity. They are able to reach into areas in the community where others fail. A characteristic of many CCPR member organisations is that their activities take place in the heart of the community; in church halls, local authority amenities and school sports facilities. This encourages the ‘harder to reach’ populations to participate and fosters real community involvement. Classes are priced within the reach of the majority of the population and offer essential alternatives to the commercial fitness industry.
If public health is to be improved through increasing levels of physical activity, then engaging as many groups as possible is essential. It is clear that levels of participation mirror health inequalities. For example, 48% of men and 47% of women in social class 1 participate in sport and exercise compared to 38% of men and 28% of women in social class 5. Increasing opportunities for physical activity will be particularly important for social groups 4 and 5, whose health has been affected disproportionately by the decline in levels of manual work. Voluntary sector physical activity organisations already reach some people in these social groups and with modest investment could reach far more. We believe that voluntary sector organisations are an attractive option for those in lower income groups for social and cultural as well as financial reasons. While there are many for whom commercial gym facilities provide well for their needs, there are many others who see them as ‘not for them’, and who may be more comfortable in a community setting which is more accessible in cost and distance. The challenge is to embed provision so that it is led by and for real people.
Secondly, the voluntary physical activity sector has impressive participation retention rates. Physical activity offers more than just exercise opportunities. It offers participants a social network, a support system and there is an important loyalty factor associated with voluntary sector activity. Similarly, the club structure is a useful means by which government can provide support to community activity. Sport and recreation clubs are good at encouraging active citizenship and social bonding, and many club members are attracted to remain active, as much as a result of the social ties they have with an organisation, as the perceived health benefits they see of engaging in the club activity. 26% of all volunteering takes place in sport and recreation and the economic value of formal volunteering in sport and recreation was valued at £1,555 million in 1996.
If long-term improvements in public health are to be achieved, people need to be encouraged not only to become more active, but to remain more active. The club structure is good at fostering long-term participation. For example, many clubs have youth, competitive and veteran teams/sections so there is a clear career of participation for individuals. This valuable characteristic of voluntary sector sport and recreation should be championed by government.
Thirdly, many voluntary sector physical activity organisations already cater for ‘specialist’ populations. For example, many of the 28 movement and dance organisations in CCPR membership have an impressive record of engaging older populations in activity. There is much good practice at local level of classes catering for participants with disabilities, from ethnic minorities (particularly women who would find it difficult to participate unless they had the opportunity to attend specialist classes). With support, this good practice at local level could be replicated on a much larger scale. Other CCPR members have developed teaching qualifications for specialist populations, both to ensure quality, and that those engaging with specialist groups have the skills to do so effectively. The voluntary sector has the advantage of being able to be innovative and creative in the activities it offers, with few bureaucratic restrictions. This has allowed good practice to develop that would be useful to any national government campaign, and makes the sector distinctive in what it has to offer public health.
There is frustration that ACT has achieved so little. There has not been a shift of resources to primary care trusts and regional health authorities to work at local and regional level with voluntary and community sector organisations in sport and recreation. In Scotland, for example, health authorities are working directly with selected national governing bodies to make a positive impact on public health.
VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR KEY POINTS
• There should be encouragement of and support for local provision of physical activity programmes, for and by local people. This would offer a model of sustainable retention and offer important public health benefits.
• The most valuable asset voluntary physical activity organisations possess is their people. Investing in social capital is crucial in helping the sector to develop the capacity necessary for delivery of physical activity programmes.
• Encouraging the voluntary sector to engage more in workplace settings would yield impressive results. There is huge potential for the voluntary sector to increase physical activity levels by cooperation with private enterprise. The captive workplace would benefit from increased physical activity opportunities and this is a partnership massively under-developed and underused.
• The encouragement of physical activity by employers should form a key part of government strategy. Increased physical activity opportunities are an important way to promote active lifestyles and the idea of building activity into ones everyday life. Physical activity would help to foster a sense of workplace community, result in a fitter workforce, with improved concentration levels. There are many examples of how such schemes could be run: employers could showcase a variety of activities at lunchtime which employees would then have the opportunity to engage in. Alternatively, employees could have the opportunity to work more flexibly in order to engage in physical activity. Tax incentives for employers to encourage physical activity and the removal of physical activity opportunities from the list of taxable benefits to employees would be useful interventions.
• The government should run a large scale and prominent campaign to raise the profile of activity . Whilst the positive pull of “sport” for some groups is very evident (for example disaffected young men), for others the use of the word “sport” in a campaign is a disincentive to engage in activity. Marketing needs to be sufficiently sensitive to the varying perceptions that exist. The idea of highly competitive team sports that is often portrayed in the media does not represent the wealth of different physical activity opportunities available. Any national campaign promoting a wide range of activity options and suggesting that there is an activity to suit everyone is likely to have far greater effect in increasing participation levels.
• Access to affordable physical activity in local community settings is limited at present. Supporting the voluntary sector to develop more capacity to deliver would help improve access. Safe and accessible transport must be looked at in this context. Participants must be able to get to the site of activity in a safe and affordable manner.
• Regionalisation is political reality and government should recognise this in their public health strategy. Funding for voluntary sector sport and recreation is also increasingly available at regional as opposed to central level. There are many examples of PA programmes at local level and voluntary sector organisations are excellent deliverers at the very local level. The CCPR believes that regional sports structures should be supported to help the delivery of public health improvements.
• The vast majority of voluntary sector physical activity opportunities in the UK rely on volunteers. To increase physical activity levels using the voluntary sector, volunteers must be supported. Volunteers face increasing administrative and financial burdens. Rising CRB costs, increased administration and cost associated with insurance ‘risk management’, as well as increased training and administration necessary to obtain qualifications, add to the financial burdens placed on the sector. It is important that the sector is governed well and has products of good quality to offer participants, but in a climate of increasing volunteer regulation, there must be adequate support for volunteers. Research commissioned by the CCPR reported that for every two active volunteers there is one lapsed volunteer. It is imperative that government supports volunteers in a sustainable and effective way to ensure public health gains are made through activity.
• As part of a national campaign to promote physical activity, government must take steps to ensure that there are local teams of physical activity expertise in place that can inform the public about the benefits of activity. This team- likely to include teachers and other school staff, volunteers, leisure workers and local health professionals-must have good awareness of physical activity opportunities available in the area. These local networks of professionals championing physical activity must also be encouraged and supported in increasing their skills.
• Whilst there is much evidence highlighting the general health and social benefits of sport and recreation, there is less direct evidence of the benefits of some physical activity interventions. The CCPR realises the need for and benefit of collecting data in this area, but feels that there must be support from government to enable the sector to build the capacity to do this. One possibility is to form a partnership between physical activity providers and those with the skills to monitor and evaluate the effects of specific health interventions.
• Existing facilities should be used far more effectively to promote increased physical activity. School, further education and higher education facilities must be invested in, but then use should be maximised to benefit the entire community.
• Lack of long term investment in the voluntary sector is currently a barrier to increased participation. If the government is serious about increasing physical activity levels it must offer support to the sector to meet increasing demands and cater for increasing numbers of participants. This is especially urgent in the need for support to train more teachers, leaders and instructors.
Specific Consultation Questions
1. What you eat and how you spend your time at home, school, work, and leisure make a difference to your health.
Work-life balance is important, and the role of physical activity and sport and recreation in improving quality of life is crucial. Whether physical activity is undertaken purely in leisure time or forms a more integral part of a person’s life- for example as a result of active travel to school or work- there will be a positive impact upon health. Promoting an active lifestyle makes sense in public health policy.
3. People in some groups and areas experience health that is worse than the average including some people in black and minority ethnic groups and people living in disadvantaged areas.
Demographic patterns of participation have been very hard to break. Most physical activity is still undertaken by social groups 1, 2 and 3. Voluntary sector physical activity organisations have the advantage of being able to reach groups that are traditionally hard to engage. More collaboration between Primary Care Trusts and voluntary and community organisations would be useful in this area.
With support, voluntary sector organisations could lead pilot projects aimed at engaging ethnic minorities in activity, and make them part of their core service. With investment in increasing capacity, the sector will be able to offer well trained leaders and cater for increased demand. Additional support would be required to collect an evidence-base relating to the impact of such work and to develop community leaders who would ensure sustainability of local initiatives.
It is crucial that if government is going dramatically to increase physical activity levels, no groups in society are ignored.
5. The role of regulation.
To maximise the contribution of PA to improving public health, public bodies must make the promotion of sport and recreation a higher priority. In this area, we feel there is a role for regulation.
• Sport and recreation should be included in Comprehensive Performance Assessments for Local Authorities
• Sport and recreation should be a statutory local authority service
• Strategic Health Authorities should have clear physical activity promotion targets
• There should be a firmer commitment to increasing the time allocated to physical education in the school curriculum
• There is opportunity for positive regulatory incentives to encourage increased physical activity- tax breaks for employers that show a commitment to encouraging physical activity in the workplace for example
6. Working together to support healthy choices
Better integration of physical activity services and providers with health professionals, is important to raise the profile of physical activity opportunities, and also to widen access for physical activity to new participants. Increasing the number of partnerships between voluntary and community organisations and Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts would be a positive development. Additional support would be required to collect an evidence-base relating to the impact of such work.
7. Organisations have an impact on health through their interactions with the public, employees and society
The CCPR feels there is tremendous opportunity for organisations promoting sport and recreation to work with employers in the private, public and voluntary sector to provide increased physical activity opportunities. A national dialogue between the Confederation of British Industry, Trade Unions, voluntary and community sector leaders and health professionals would be a first step to making this a reality. Additional support would be required to collect an evidence-base relating to the impact of such work.
10. Working together to support healthy choices
The CCPR feels that its members have a huge amount of expertise and knowledge in delivering physical activity programmes. This expertise should be used by other sectors to increase activity opportunities and to increase the quality of what is on offer.
Some ideas for areas of partnership working, the expansion and broadening of existing programmes and ways to strengthen the voluntary sector to improve delivery of activity programmes are listed below:
• The CCPR suggests that there is an establishment of a national network of exercise professionals.
• The CCPR feels that there should be an extension of the vocational criteria for the Register of Exercise Professionals, to include life-style sports and voluntary sector organisations’ instructors and coaches.
• There should be a strategic approach and action to improve health among older people. The action would include programmes for older women, known to be at risk from osteoporosis, interventions in residential homes and capacity-building for the provision of exercise programmes for older people among mainstream physical activity/leisure providers (private, commercial, local authority, voluntary and community organisations) and within the nursing and medical professions.
• The CCPR suggests that targeted training in dance, exercise and fitness, should be undertaken by movement and dance organisations. There are around 12 national voluntary organisations whose primary purpose is to provide opportunities to increase physical fitness, health and well-being, through participation in dance, exercise and movement. All have established systems to produce tutors and instructors of excellent quality, most of whom operate within local communities, for clubs and classes whose members’ participation demonstrates higher retention than almost any other physical activity.
However, because the organisations are small, and employ very few professional staff, they have found it difficult, despite the will to do so, to extend their expertise into certain areas – notably the inner cities, among black and ethnic minorities and with adolescents. Since the activities and their participants lend themselves very well to increasing participation among women and girls, and among older people, this seems to be a lost opportunity. It is also worth noting that the very high % of women who are active in Finland is at least partly attributable to the strong links between girls’ dance and movement activities in school curricula, and opportunities to take part in the same activities once they leave school.
CCPR Response to Choosing Health Consultation
3 June 2004
The CCPR is the umbrella body for 270 national organisations for sport and recreation; it represents and promotes the interests of voluntary sector sport and recreation. The CCPR welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation and believes that voluntary sector sport and recreation has a positive role to play in improving the health of the nation. CCPR strongly believes that the promotion of physical activity should form a central part of any government strategy aimed at improving public health. This is because physical activity provides such a positive message- Many public health campaigns are necessarily centred on a negative message, say no to smoking, fast food, excessive alcohol consumption. Whilst the diffusion of such messages into the public conscience is essential, physical activity has the benefit of being a ‘yes’ factor. Furthermore, physical activity has many health benefits . There is clear evidence that those who are more active are less likely to suffer from Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), stroke, Type II Diabetes, hypertension, colorectal cancer, stress, anxiety, osteo-arthritis, osteoporosis, depression and lower back pain. Those who are regularly active before a serious illness are more likely to make a swift recovery. The economic argument for investment in sport and recreation is a strong one. For health policy, the public health costs of inactivity are huge. Money is saved by the prevention of obesity and related conditions. Investing in organisations encouraging more of the population to engage in regular physical activity, is a good buy for public health. This response focuses on the positive impact that the voluntary sector can make to the nation’s health by increasing levels of physical activity and offering unique and innovative solutions to public health problems. The CCPR believes that voluntary sector sport and recreation organisations have a crucial role to play in improving the health and physical activity participation levels of the population. Voluntary sector sport and recreation organisations are in a unique position to make a positive impact on health and the reduction of health inequalities as a result of their distinctiveness. The range and breadth of voluntary and community physical activity organisations, and the activities they seek to promote, is important to recognise. As well as the organised team sports, the sector contains many movement and dance organisations where individuals participate most commonly for health and pleasure and occasionally in competitive settings. Moreover, the sector contains many walking and other organisations that primarily promote active lifestyles. Firstly, these organisations have a commendable record of engaging traditionally ‘hard to reach’ groups in activity. They are able to reach into areas in the community where others fail. A characteristic of many CCPR member organisations is that their activities take place in the heart of the community; in church halls, local authority amenities and school sports facilities. This encourages the ‘harder to reach’ populations to participate and fosters real community involvement. Classes are priced within the reach of the majority of the population and offer essential alternatives to the commercial fitness industry. If public health is to be improved through increasing levels of physical activity, then engaging as many groups as possible is essential. It is clear that levels of participation mirror health inequalities. For example, 48% of men and 47% of women in social class 1 participate in sport and exercise compared to 38% of men and 28% of women in social class 5. Increasing opportunities for physical activity will be particularly important for social groups 4 and 5, whose health has been affected disproportionately by the decline in levels of manual work. Voluntary sector physical activity organisations already reach some people in these social groups and with modest investment could reach far more. We believe that voluntary sector organisations are an attractive option for those in lower income groups for social and cultural as well as financial reasons. While there are many for whom commercial gym facilities provide well for their needs, there are many others who see them as ‘not for them’, and who may be more comfortable in a community setting which is more accessible in cost and distance. The challenge is to embed provision so that it is led by and for real people. Secondly, the voluntary physical activity sector has impressive participation retention rates. Physical activity offers more than just exercise opportunities. It offers participants a social network, a support system and there is an important loyalty factor associated with voluntary sector activity. Similarly, the club structure is a useful means by which government can provide support to community activity. Sport and recreation clubs are good at encouraging active citizenship and social bonding, and many club members are attracted to remain active, as much as a result of the social ties they have with an organisation, as the perceived health benefits they see of engaging in the club activity. 26% of all volunteering takes place in sport and recreation and the economic value of formal volunteering in sport and recreation was valued at £1,555 million in 1996. If long-term improvements in public health are to be achieved, people need to be encouraged not only to become more active, but to remain more active. The club structure is good at fostering long-term participation. For example, many clubs have youth, competitive and veteran teams/sections so there is a clear career of participation for individuals. This valuable characteristic of voluntary sector sport and recreation should be championed by government. Thirdly, many voluntary sector physical activity organisations already cater for ‘specialist’ populations. For example, many of the 28 movement and dance organisations in CCPR membership have an impressive record of engaging older populations in activity. There is much good practice at local level of classes catering for participants with disabilities, from ethnic minorities (particularly women who would find it difficult to participate unless they had the opportunity to attend specialist classes). With support, this good practice at local level could be replicated on a much larger scale. Other CCPR members have developed teaching qualifications for specialist populations, both to ensure quality, and that those engaging with specialist groups have the skills to do so effectively. The voluntary sector has the advantage of being able to be innovative and creative in the activities it offers, with few bureaucratic restrictions. This has allowed good practice to develop that would be useful to any national government campaign, and makes the sector distinctive in what it has to offer public health. There is frustration that ACT has achieved so little. There has not been a shift of resources to primary care trusts and regional health authorities to work at local and regional level with voluntary and community sector organisations in sport and recreation. In Scotland, for example, health authorities are working directly with selected national governing bodies to make a positive impact on public health.
VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR KEY POINTS
• There should be encouragement of and support for local provision of physical activity programmes, for and by local people. This would offer a model of sustainable retention and offer important public health benefits.
• The most valuable asset voluntary physical activity organisations possess is their people. Investing in social capital is crucial in helping the sector to develop the capacity necessary for delivery of physical activity programmes.
• Encouraging the voluntary sector to engage more in workplace settings would yield impressive results. There is huge potential for the voluntary sector to increase physical activity levels by cooperation with private enterprise. The captive workplace would benefit from increased physical activity opportunities and this is a partnership massively under-developed and underused.
• The encouragement of physical activity by employers should form a key part of government strategy. Increased physical activity opportunities are an important way to promote active lifestyles and the idea of building activity into ones everyday life. Physical activity would help to foster a sense of workplace community, result in a fitter workforce, with improved concentration levels. There are many examples of how such schemes could be run: employers could showcase a variety of activities at lunchtime which employees would then have the opportunity to engage in. Alternatively, employees could have the opportunity to work more flexibly in order to engage in physical activity. Tax incentives for employers to encourage physical activity and the removal of physical activity opportunities from the list of taxable benefits to employees would be useful interventions.
• The government should run a large scale and prominent campaign to raise the profile of activity . Whilst the positive pull of “sport” for some groups is very evident (for example disaffected young men), for others the use of the word “sport” in a campaign is a disincentive to engage in activity. Marketing needs to be sufficiently sensitive to the varying perceptions that exist. The idea of highly competitive team sports that is often portrayed in the media does not represent the wealth of different physical activity opportunities available. Any national campaign promoting a wide range of activity options and suggesting that there is an activity to suit everyone is likely to have far greater effect in increasing participation levels.
• Access to affordable physical activity in local community settings is limited at present. Supporting the voluntary sector to develop more capacity to deliver would help improve access. Safe and accessible transport must be looked at in this context. Participants must be able to get to the site of activity in a safe and affordable manner.
• Regionalisation is political reality and government should recognise this in their public health strategy. Funding for voluntary sector sport and recreation is also increasingly available at regional as opposed to central level. There are many examples of PA programmes at local level and voluntary sector organisations are excellent deliverers at the very local level. The CCPR believes that regional sports structures should be supported to help the delivery of public health improvements.
• The vast majority of voluntary sector physical activity opportunities in the UK rely on volunteers. To increase physical activity levels using the voluntary sector, volunteers must be supported. Volunteers face increasing administrative and financial burdens. Rising CRB costs, increased administration and cost associated with insurance ‘risk management’, as well as increased training and administration necessary to obtain qualifications, add to the financial burdens placed on the sector. It is important that the sector is governed well and has products of good quality to offer participants, but in a climate of increasing volunteer regulation, there must be adequate support for volunteers. Research commissioned by the CCPR reported that for every two active volunteers there is one lapsed volunteer. It is imperative that government supports volunteers in a sustainable and effective way to ensure public health gains are made through activity.
• As part of a national campaign to promote physical activity, government must take steps to ensure that there are local teams of physical activity expertise in place that can inform the public about the benefits of activity. This team- likely to include teachers and other school staff, volunteers, leisure workers and local health professionals-must have good awareness of physical activity opportunities available in the area. These local networks of professionals championing physical activity must also be encouraged and supported in increasing their skills.
• Whilst there is much evidence highlighting the general health and social benefits of sport and recreation, there is less direct evidence of the benefits of some physical activity interventions. The CCPR realises the need for and benefit of collecting data in this area, but feels that there must be support from government to enable the sector to build the capacity to do this. One possibility is to form a partnership between physical activity providers and those with the skills to monitor and evaluate the effects of specific health interventions.
• Existing facilities should be used far more effectively to promote increased physical activity. School, further education and higher education facilities must be invested in, but then use should be maximised to benefit the entire community.
• Lack of long term investment in the voluntary sector is currently a barrier to increased participation. If the government is serious about increasing physical activity levels it must offer support to the sector to meet increasing demands and cater for increasing numbers of participants. This is especially urgent in the need for support to train more teachers, leaders and instructors.
Specific Consultation Questions
1. What you eat and how you spend your time at home, school, work, and leisure make a difference to your health. Work-life balance is important, and the role of physical activity and sport and recreation in improving quality of life is crucial. Whether physical activity is undertaken purely in leisure time or forms a more integral part of a person’s life- for example as a result of active travel to school or work- there will be a positive impact upon health. Promoting an active lifestyle makes sense in public health policy.
3. People in some groups and areas experience health that is worse than the average including some people in black and minority ethnic groups and people living in disadvantaged areas. Demographic patterns of participation have been very hard to break. Most physical activity is still undertaken by social groups 1, 2 and 3. Voluntary sector physical activity organisations have the advantage of being able to reach groups that are traditionally hard to engage. More collaboration between Primary Care Trusts and voluntary and community organisations would be useful in this area. With support, voluntary sector organisations could lead pilot projects aimed at engaging ethnic minorities in activity, and make them part of their core service. With investment in increasing capacity, the sector will be able to offer well trained leaders and cater for increased demand. Additional support would be required to collect an evidence-base relating to the impact of such work and to develop community leaders who would ensure sustainability of local initiatives. It is crucial that if government is going dramatically to increase physical activity levels, no groups in society are ignored. 5. The role of regulation. To maximise the contribution of PA to improving public health, public bodies must make the promotion of sport and recreation a higher priority. In this area, we feel there is a role for regulation. • Sport and recreation should be included in Comprehensive Performance Assessments for Local Authorities
• Sport and recreation should be a statutory local authority service
• Strategic Health Authorities should have clear physical activity promotion targets
• There should be a firmer commitment to increasing the time allocated to physical education in the school curriculum
• There is opportunity for positive regulatory incentives to encourage increased physical activity- tax breaks for employers that show a commitment to encouraging physical activity in the workplace for example 6. Working together to support healthy choices Better integration of physical activity services and providers with health professionals, is important to raise the profile of physical activity opportunities, and also to widen access for physical activity to new participants. Increasing the number of partnerships between voluntary and community organisations and Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts would be a positive development. Additional support would be required to collect an evidence-base relating to the impact of such work. 7. Organisations have an impact on health through their interactions with the public, employees and society The CCPR feels there is tremendous opportunity for organisations promoting sport and recreation to work with employers in the private, public and voluntary sector to provide increased physical activity opportunities. A national dialogue between the Confederation of British Industry, Trade Unions, voluntary and community sector leaders and health professionals would be a first step to making this a reality. Additional support would be required to collect an evidence-base relating to the impact of such work. 10. Working together to support healthy choices The CCPR feels that its members have a huge amount of expertise and knowledge in delivering physical activity programmes. This expertise should be used by other sectors to increase activity opportunities and to increase the quality of what is on offer. Some ideas for areas of partnership working, the expansion and broadening of existing programmes and ways to strengthen the voluntary sector to improve delivery of activity programmes are listed below: • The CCPR suggests that there is an establishment of a national network of exercise professionals.
• The CCPR feels that there should be an extension of the vocational criteria for the Register of Exercise Professionals, to include life-style sports and voluntary sector organisations’ instructors and coaches.
• There should be a strategic approach and action to improve health among older people. The action would include programmes for older women, known to be at risk from osteoporosis, interventions in residential homes and capacity-building for the provision of exercise programmes for older people among mainstream physical activity/leisure providers (private, commercial, local authority, voluntary and community organisations) and within the nursing and medical professions.
• The CCPR suggests that targeted training in dance, exercise and fitness, should be undertaken by movement and dance organisations. There are around 12 national voluntary organisations whose primary purpose is to provide opportunities to increase physical fitness, health and well-being, through participation in dance, exercise and movement. All have established systems to produce tutors and instructors of excellent quality, most of whom operate within local communities, for clubs and classes whose members’ participation demonstrates higher retention than almost any other physical activity.
However, because the organisations are small, and employ very few professional staff, they have found it difficult, despite the will to do so, to extend their expertise into certain areas – notably the inner cities, among black and ethnic minorities and with adolescents. Since the activities and their participants lend themselves very well to increasing participation among women and girls, and among older people, this seems to be a lost opportunity. It is also worth noting that the very high % of women who are active in Finland is at least partly attributable to the strong links between girls’ dance and movement activities in school curricula, and opportunities to take part in the same activities once they leave school.
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