The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-03-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the International Tennis Federation about the issue of equal prize money for men and women in tennis tournaments.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
HMG has had no such discussions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of a recent report by UKactive that lack of exercise is estimated to cause 37,000 deaths annually and cost the UK economy £20 billion a year, what steps they are taking to reduce levels of inactivity.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government welcomes ukactive’s report. It makes an important contribution to the debate on physical activity and builds on the framework for action set out by Public Health England last year in “Everybody Active Every Day”.
The Government recognises the health, economic and social benefits to individuals, communities and the nation of increasing physical activity levels. Since 2011, the Government has invested over £450 million in the PE and Sport Primary Premium in order to improve PE and sport. A further £46.5 million has been invested in School Games in order to provide all children, regardless of their ability, with a chance to participate in competitive sport. In addition £13 million has been invested in Change4life sports clubs which targets the least active children and helps them get more active.
We are also committed to raising awareness among the public and health professionals of the benefits of physical activity. We have worked with experts to translate the Chief Medical Officers’ (CMOs) guidelines on physical activity into easy messages in the form of an infographic which health professionals can now use with their patients when they discuss physical activity. The UK’s CMOs have now asked the experts to carry out a similar piece of work on physical activity for children and young people. In addition, Public Health England’s Change4Life campaign continues to support families to make healthy choices, including being active.
Further action to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour will be taken via the Government’s new strategy for sport to be published shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-04-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reports that a doctor prescribed performance-enhancing drugs to 150 athletes, what steps they are taking to ensure that sports in the UK are free from doping.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government is deeply concerned by these allegations. Sports fans are entitled to be sure that what they are watching is true and fair with all athletes competing on a level playing field. We are grateful for the investigative journalism by the Sunday Times for bringing these apparent abuses to light, and we have asked for there to be an urgent independent investigation into what action was taken when these allegations were first received and what more needs to be done to ensure that British sport remains clean. The Government is also looking at whether existing legislation in this area goes far enough. If it becomes clear that stronger criminal sanctions are needed then we will not hesitate to act.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2015-11-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the work of the World Anti-Doping Agency, in particular in setting regulatory standards against doping and educating athletes and coaches to shift the culture against cheating.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has improved its compliance and reporting processes, resulting in the recent suspension of six countries for non-compliance and a further six countries placed on its watch-list. Last week, WADA’s Foundation Board increased its scope to conduct internal investigations and strengthen its whistleblowing process. WADA President Craig Reedie’s statement that values-based education is the best weapon for clean sport is a view shared by UK Anti-Doping and implemented through its successful 100% Me education programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-04-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ensure that physical activity is an integral part of tackling obesity in the forthcoming childhood obesity strategy, in the light of the correlation between inactivity and childhood obesity.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Our Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched in the summer, will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese including inactivity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2015-11-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support and promote the Erasmus+ programme, which aims to boost skills and employability through education, training and sport.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Erasmus+ programme enables organisations and citizens to achieve their potential through international education, training and sport opportunities.
A body called the National Agency (a consortium of the British Council and Ecorys UK) deliver the Erasmus+ programme in the UK. The Government supports the National Agency’s delivery, aligns the programme with Government objectives, and represents the UK in European meetings on Erasmus+. The National Agency has a communications team that is dedicated to raising awareness of the Erasmus+ programme. The Government does not duplicate this work.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what ways they are targeting the entire population to encourage them to take up physical activity, and not just those who are overweight or obese.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Government is determined to tackle physical inactivity. Around one in two women and a third of men in England may be damaging their health through a lack of physical activity. Ministers across government continue to work together to identify opportunities to get people active in a range of ways including active travel, health initiatives, planning and sport.
In December 2015 Government published ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ – the first comprehensive government strategy for sport for 13 years – it sets out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation. It has a strong focus on reaching inactive people and helping them to get moving in ways that suit them.
Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, published on 19 May, states that tackling inactivity is a major priority for the organisation, it is tripling its current investment to over £250 million over 4 years, making it the largest single national investor in tackling inactivity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2015-11-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding they provide for (1) research and development in new technologies to monitor inactivity, and (2) evaluating the impact of local programmes to tackle inactivity.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The usual practice of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and of the Medical Research Council (MRC) is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available.
Public funders including the NIHR, the MRC, other Research Councils and Innovate UK fund a wide range of research relating to monitoring of physical activity/inactivity and the development and evaluation of interventions to support and encourage healthy behaviours including physical activity.
For example, the NIHR has recently funded a £0.8 million trial to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Football Fans in Training (FFIT) – a group-based, weight management and healthy living programme delivered by community coaches. The report of the study has been published in the NIHR Journals Library and is attached.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research that shows that lack of physical activity is negatively affecting more people than obesity, whether they have a strategy on how to support grassroots attempts at getting citizens to take part in more and sustained physical activity.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Government is determined to tackle physical inactivity. Around one in two women and a third of men in England may be damaging their health through a lack of physical activity. Ministers across government continue to work together to identify opportunities to get people active in a range of ways including active travel, health initiatives, planning and sport.
In December 2015 Government published ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ – the first comprehensive government strategy for sport for 13 years – it sets out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation. It has a strong focus on reaching inactive people and helping them to get moving in ways that suit them.
Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, published on 19 May, states that tackling inactivity is a major priority for the organisation, it is tripling its current investment to over £250 million over 4 years, making it the largest single national investor in tackling inactivity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-01-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of recent allegations of match-fixing in top-level tennis, including at Wimbledon.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
These are serious accusations and they need to be looked into quickly.
The Secretary of State has spoken to the tennis authorities and we ar determined to do all we can to support them in ensuring that the game is absolutely clean, and we are assured they are committed to this aim too. We welcome the news that the Association of Tennis Professionals have announced a thorough independent review into the accusations and that they will be implementing its recommendations.
Primary responsibility for monitoring betting markets or sporting events rest with the betting operators and sports governing bodies respectively.