The new cross-Government Mental Health Strategy for England, to be published later this year, will set a long-term direction to improve how we prevent and respond to mental ill-health through a whole-system approach.

The Government recognises the importance of community participation and physical activity in preventing mental ill-health, supporting management and recovery, as well as promoting positive wellbeing.

That is why the Call for Evidence specifically invites views on practical actions and effective interventions which promote prevention and wellbeing, including the role of community settings, education, workplaces, and local services in supporting positive mental health and participation in everyday life.

Together, this evidence will inform a strategy that sets out a whole-system approach, looking beyond the National Health Service to the role of community participation and determinants of mental health, with a stronger focus on enabling people to stay active, participate in education and employment, and live well in their communities.

The Call for Evidence will close on 10 July and further details, including how to respond, are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/informing-the-mental-health-strategy-for-england/informing-the-mental-health-strategy-for-england-call-for-evidence-document

Paid for media plans are agreed annually with My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Cabinet Office. Plans for the rest of the year are not yet agreed. Through the Department’s Campaign Resource Centre, promotional NHS Active 10 materials are made available year-round to support health professionals, local authorities, educators, and community organisations in promoting physical activity initiatives. The app, as well as a portfolio of digital behaviour change tools managed by the Department, are promoted through the NHS Better Health website and the associated digital prevention pathways.

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ (CMOs) physical activity guidelines recommend that adults accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week, such as brisk walking. The NHS Active 10 app records brisk walking minutes, supporting users to incorporate more moderate-intensity activity into their daily lives. The app rewards users for every 10-minute segment of moderate-intensity activity completed, providing motivation to increase and sustain higher activity levels over time. Metrics collected to monitor the impact of the app include downloads, daily and monthly active users, and summary data of active minutes. The app has been downloaded over 1.7 million times and supports over 95,000 monthly active users to get more active. A time series analysis conducted in 2024, pending publication, indicates that the average app user increases their daily brisk walking by nine minutes, immediately following download of the NHS Active 10 app.

The NHS Active 10 app was initially launched in February 2017 by Public Health England, in collaboration with the University of Sheffield. Initial development costs totalled £700,807.

The Government and the National Health Service recognise that prevention will always be better and cheaper than treatment. Reducing physical inactivity in people of all ages, including in older people, is important in helping people live longer, healthier lives, and a key part of the Department’s shift from treatment to prevention.

The NHS Better Health Campaign promotes ways for people of all ages to move more, and signposts to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking app, an accessible way of building movement into everyday life.

The NHS, together with local authorities, provides a range of services to support older people, such as exercise on referral and social prescribing, aquatic/swimming classes, dance classes, and fall prevention training through strength and balance classes.

The Government recognises the physical and mental health benefits that leading an active lifestyle can bring for all children and young people.

The Department for Education has recently launched an independent curriculum and assessment review that will advocate for a rich, broad, and inclusive curriculum that includes physical education, which the Department of Health and Social Care is also feeding into.