Food & Health Alliance

Following the initial Five Year Review of Let's Make Scotland More Active (LMSMA) in 2008 the Review Group reconvened to subsequently release a final statement following the publication of the 2008 Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) data in 2009.

Key findings from the 2008 Scottish Health Survey:

• Only 39% of adults (aged 16+) met the recommendations in 2008 (46% of men and 35% of women).
• Overall, 64% of children (aged 2–15) met the recommendations in 2008 (72% of boys and 56% of girls).

While the results for adults show a positive upward trend in adult activity levels since 2003, the review group expressed concern about current levels of physical activity among older adults, women generally and the reduction in the proportion of girls meeting the recommendations.

Key Areas of Focus for The Next Five Years:

• Continuation of Let's Make Scotland More Active.

The review group uphold the recommendations made in February 2009 and continue to endorse LMSMA as an essential strategy to influence Scotland’s inactive population.

• Priorities.

In addition to maintaining progress in population groups where activity levels are on track (e.g. males aged 16–44), the review group also calls for increased efforts to address health inequalities, those in areas of deprivation and specifically girls, women and older adults.

• Local leadership for physical activity.

The review group urge local leaders to consider ways of aligning and linking physical activity outcomes with their Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs).

• Games legacy.

The review group recognise the opportunity presented by the 2014 Commonwealth Games which should be used to help accelerate progress towards making Scotland more active.