Department of Health

More than 27 million adults in England are not getting enough exercise and 14 million don't complete 30 minutes exercise a week.  ‘Be Active, Be Healthy’ is the Department of Health’s new strategy (2009) that puts physical activity at the heart of communities and at the centre of local authorities' efforts to tackle obesity, which is responsible for 9,000 premature deaths each year in England.

A number of partnerships with both private and voluntary organisations are planned to get people moving in their local communities. These include:

  • a new 'Learn to Swim' programme for adults as part of the Government's 'Free Swimming' scheme with the Amateur Swimming Association and Sport England
  • a working group to explore how we can get all generations active through dance, harnessing a 'Strictly Come Dancing' fever that has swept the nation
  • a total of 2,012 Active Challenge walking routes across England with Walk England to mark the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games
  • the expansion of the Walking the Way to Health Scheme which supports over 538 local health walk schemes.

If you want to find out more about the Departments of Health strategy click here 

County Sports Partnerships are a key player in this new strategy. We have been provided with funding directly from the Department of Health to help bring together councils, Primary Care Trusts and other grassroots providers to coordinate and deliver physical activities alongside sports.

Cheshire & Warrington Sports Partnership is doing a variety of activities to support our Department of Health contract, including:

Promoting Change4Life – Change4Life is a nationwide movement designed to help people make changes to their lifestyles, so that they can eat well, move more and live longer. To find out more, click here 

Hosting a website site called 'Get Active in Cheshire & Warrington', a partnership between several organisations that and aims to act as a 'gateway' to range of healthy eating information and activities for the residents of and visitor to our area.