Physical Inactivity (Public Health)

Kevin Barron Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2014 Westminster Hall

[Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith) on securing this debate. I do not want to repeat too much of what has been said. As people will know, I have had an active interest in public health for a number of my years in the House, and I have said on numerous occasions that the public health issues for the 21st century will not involve sanitation, fresh water supplies or bad housing, although unfortunately, in such a rich country bad housing still exists; they will have more to do with individual lifestyles and behaviour, including smoking, drinking alcohol in unhealthy amounts and other things. Inactivity is a major threat to public health in the 21st century.

My hon. Friend talked about the national health service being a sickness service. I have used it on many occasions, and for most of my life it has really been a national ill-health service. It reacts to people on the basis that there is something wrong, and we must move away from that. I say to the Minister that although I do not have many compliments to pay about the contents of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, moving public health into local government so that it becomes a part of local society was a proper thing to do. Also in that Act, although I have heard little about them since, were provisions on population health and how we measure it, and on health inequalities, from which constituencies such as mine suffer badly. I would like a lot more to be done on that issue.

There is a wealth of evidence clearly showing that an active life is essential for physical and mental health and well-being. A number of diseases, including cancer and diabetes, are affecting an increasing number of people at an earlier age, as are conditions such as obesity, hypertension and depression. Regular physical activity can guard against such conditions. We must enable people to take control of their current and future health.

Boosting parents’ understanding about active play and physical literacy is essential for children as well. My childhood was not spent on Xboxes, or even in front of television for much of the time. Most of the time, if the weather was right, we were outdoors, climbing trees or playing football on the street, and up to all sorts of things. We had a far more active life than my grandchildren do. Outwith activities such as football and so on, they lead a pretty sedentary life in front of televisions and in their play.

Being active increases quality of life at every age and increases everyone’s chance of remaining healthy and independent. The benefits do not stop there; there are many other social, individual and emotional reasons to promote more physical activity. Being active plays a key role in brain development in early childhood, and it is good for long-term educational attainment. Increased energy levels boost workplace productivity and reduce sickness absence.

As Members have hinted, the experience of other countries tells us that getting the whole nation active every day will happen only if we involve all sectors. Countries such as Finland, the Netherlands and Germany have turned their inactivity situation around—not in years, I admit, but in decades in places such as Norway. We all need to engage with such strategies in our communities. In order to make real and lasting change, we must take a long-term, evidence-based approach, building on what we know works, and embed physical activity into the fabric of daily life, making it an easy, cost-effective and normal choice in every community in England.

I will finish by giving an example. More than 20 years ago in my constituency, a then coal mining village called Thurcroft set up a programme with the local public health organisation called Thurcroft Healthy Hearts. It brought schoolchildren and pensioners together to discuss issues such as smoking. Inevitably, as it was a three-year programme, it ended after three years. Little evaluation of its benefits was done, although people were asked if they were happy with it and they said yes. However, from that programme came Thurcroft walking group. I walked with the group a couple of years ago. Its members are elderly people who have been meeting once a week to walk together, which has been to their general benefit. That is what we need more of in our society.