We urgently need a strategic approach across government departments to identify and tackle the barriers to children and young people and the least active groups to increase their activity levels.
Responding to the 2022-2023 Active Lives Children and Young People survey from Sport England, a Local Government Spokesperson said:
“It is positive that children and young people’s overall activity levels have remained stable across 2022-23, however this data demonstrates the challenge ahead of us and the ongoing inequalities facing girls, black and Asian children, young people and the least affluent who remain the least active groups.
“Councils have been working hard to prioritise public sport and leisure facilities for their communities and work in partnership with charities, the NHS and schools and use public resources to keep services going. However, our analysis shows that councils in England face a £4 billion funding gap over the next two years just to keep services standing still.
“Without additional funding, councils will have to make increasingly tough decisions about which services to prioritise. We urgently need a strategic approach across government departments to identify and tackle the barriers to children and young people and the least active groups to increase their activity levels.”