The health and fitness sector must continue to highlight - both at government level and with local GPs - the financial benefits of physical activity to achieve a redistribution of public funds, according to ukactive chair Fred Turok.

Opening the 2014 active-net conference in Coventry today, Turok said it is vital that the industry keeps pushing the business case for physical activity to ensure a ‘recutting of the funding cake.’

He drew heavily on ukactive’s widely-publicised Turning the tide on inactivity report, pointing out that at English local authorities spent on average just two per cent of public health budgets on physical activity promotion and investment in 2012, compared to the 38 per cent spent on sexual health. This, he added, was despite the fact figures show diseases that can be prevented through physical activity are the biggest drain on public health budgets.

To realise the ukactive recommendation for a rebalance of public health spending, Turok advocated a two-pronged strategy.

“At government level we are pushing really hard for cross-party consensus on the importance of promoting physical activity. It must be taken out of the political arena and we are working hard to ensure this is reflected in forthcoming party manifestos,” said Turok.

“At the other end of the spectrum, physical activity advocates should work with local GPs to further promote activity initiatives and continually make the financial case for better public health.”

He also cited figures from the recently published report by the All-Party Commission on Physical Activity that found physical inactivity now costs England £20bn per year. One of the headline numbers from ukactive’s Turning the tide on inactivity report stated that Increasing physical activity levels by just one per cent a year would save the UK economy £1.2bn over the next five years.