Agenda and minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The minutes of the meetings held on 22^nd January and 26^th February 2025 were agreed and signed as true records.

There were no Matters Arising.

Briefing Note of the Head of Sport, Physical Activity and Wellbeing

The Board considered a Briefing Note and presentation of the Head of Sport, Physical Activity and Wellbeing, regarding the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy’s success and updates on the forthcoming strategy refresh.

A co-produced joint Sports and Physical Activity Strategy was currently in development and would be completed in 2025.  This would refresh the Coventry Sports Strategy 2014-2024 and the Physical Activity Framework 2019-2024 and bring them together due to many overlapping priorities.

A small working group had been convened with key partners including the council’s Public Health & Sport, CV Life, Positive Youth Foundation, Think Active and Knight, Kavanagh and Page (KKP), commissioned consultants.

Data and insight had been collated and reviewed to identify potential priorities for the strategy and these, along with the findings of other relevant needs assessments, had been used to develop an initial set of themes and focus areas.

These principles and focus areas had been socialised with a range of partners and feedback gathered to inform the next phase of the strategy development.  The available data and insight collated on physical activity and sport in Coventry, indicated some progress had been made since the last strategies including:

·  Inactivity levels for 55-74 year olds had improved, reducing from 41.5% of this age group being inactive in 2015/16, to 28% of this group being inactive in 2021/22.

·  Active travel (walking) had increased in Coventry since 2015/16 for adults.  The percentage of adults who had participate din active travel twice over the past 28 days increased from 31.7% in 2015/16 to 35% in 2021/22 (higher than England at 33%).

·  Almost 95% of Coventry’s population now live within one mile of a health and fitness facility.

Coventry had made a significant investment in sport and physical activity facilities, with over £100 million invested into a new 25 metre swimming pool at Centre AT7, The Wave waterpark, the University of Warwick’s Sport and Wellness hub and the 50 m pool at the Alan Higgs Centre.

Significant investment into parks and green spaces to enable physical activity in local communities had also been made, including installing fitness equipment in parks and walking paths to help local people access these facilities.

Coventry had been awarded the status of European City of Sport in 2019, a key highlight of the past strategy and since then, the city had been strategic in its approach to sporting events that had connected local communities, most recently, the Kabaddi World Cup 2025.

A range of funding had been granted to support sport and physical activity schemes locally to deliver against previous strategies including from Sport England, private business and the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Since the last strategy, according to Sport England’s Active Lives Survey, Coventry adults were more active when compared to 2015/16 in particular:

·  Inactivity levels between men and women were now similar in Coventry, which differed to 2016/17 and the national picture of men being more active than women.

·  There had been an increase in the number of people in the most deprived population  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5) noted the work programme.

RESOLVED that the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5):

1)  Notes the Work Programme.

2)  Progress of the draft Physical Activity and Sport Strategy to be brought back to the Board in the 2025/26 Municipal Year.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved

There were no other items of public business.