Written question asked by Andrew Rosindell (Conservative) on Wednesday, 19 March 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 25 March 2008. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Wednesday, 2 April 2008 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Exercise: Health Education

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps the Government is taking to promote increased cardiovascular exercise by persons under 40 years of age.

Answer: I have been asked to reply.The Department and the national health service promote the benefits of physical activity to people of all ages and is keen to target those individuals most at risk of inactivity.Action includes the piloting of a physical activity care pathway model in a number of general practitioner practices in London, targeting sedentary adults while the National Step-o-meter programme is already providing training and free loan pedometers to health professionals for use with inactive patients.Other examples of current action include:"in total 86 per cent. of school children now do at least two hours of quality sport a week and we aim to offer every child and young person the chance of five hours sport a week by 2011;""over 91 per cent. of schools are now participating in the Healthy Schools Programme;""the National School Pedometer Programme is distributing 45,000 pedometers to encourage children to become more active;""a further £140 million funding for Cycling England has been announced;""new investment of £225 million outlined in the Children's Plan to allow up to 3,500 playgrounds to be rebuilt or renewed; and""a £372 million investment in this Cross-Government Obesity Strategy—““Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Gross Government Strategy for England””, to enable people to maintain a healthier weight for a healthier life."A copy of this publication is available in the Library.

Secondary information