Ever-closer collaboration between leading physical activity organisations such as ukactive and Sport England will be key to driving the sector further up the political agenda.

That was the message from ukactive chair Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson in her opening address at the Flame Conference 2016 in Telford this morning (29 July). Ushering in a new era of industry-wide joint-working, Grey-Thompson said stronger partnerships across the physical activity spectrum would be key to converting the sector’s growing momentum into tangible policy outcomes from Westminster.

The cross-bench peer praised the role of health club operators in helping to increase participation with little or no funding, and said this was beginning to be recognised in a changing landscape.

“The government is utterly dependent on our sector to deliver its goals,” she said.

“It cannot hide that the numbers of people participating since London 2012 have been propped up by the people in this room, with over seven million people regularly going to the gym and keep fit classes.”

Grey-Thompson said the physical activity sector has never been more relevant in Westminster, and pointed to the adoption of many policy calls from ukactive’s Blueprint for an active Britain in both the government’s and Sport England’s recent sports strategies as a major breakthrough.

Perhaps the most notable outcome was Sport England’s £250m pledge to make tackling physical inactivity its number one priority.

Grey-Thompson said the move towards targeting activity over sports participation marks the “biggest shift in government policy on activity in a decade” and opens the door to stronger collaboration towards a shared objective.

She added: “We now have a strategy from Sport England that fully aligns with our goals at ukactive and as a wider sector; now we can focus on executing it effectively, which will be no easy feat.”

Looking to the year ahead, Grey-Thompson said continuing to drive the skills agenda by supporting the work of CIMSPA would be key to further professionalising the sector. She said Sport England’s strategy pledge to work with CIMSPA in achieving this was a strong sign of progress, adding that further efforts across the sector over the next 12 months would enable the “crucial initiative” to fully come to fruition.

She also highlighted the role that ukactive projects such as National Fitness Day and the ukactive Summit have in driving the physical activity agenda.

Finally, Grey-Thompson expressed excitement about ukactive’s impending Future Leaders programme and said this could mark the dawn of a new age of diversity for the sector.

She concluded: “Wouldn’t it be great to be here in 2017 and say we have more female leaders in our sector – reflected in the 2017 Future Leaders programme?

“Wouldn’t it be great to be here in 2017 and say we are doing more to support groups – for example who have access challenges or who are disabled – to use our products and services?

“I know this sector – with all its expertise and determination – will rise to this challenge and I look forward to working with you all on it. Tell me what I can do to help you achieve it.”