Responding to Sport England’s ‘Active Lives Children and Young People’ report, an LGA spokesperson, said:
“These figures show that efforts by councils and Sport England to get children and young people active are working.
“Council-led initiatives, such as exercise referral schemes and offering free or reduced-cost to play sport, create more active opportunities for young people.
“Alongside other partners, councils have also made good progress in improving children’s health, from health visitors supporting new parents to weight management services.
“However, more needs to be done to reduce the gap between the most and least deprived.
“Councils need to invest in their facilities and services to help keep the next generation healthy.
“Today’s obese children will become tomorrow’s obese adults, whose years of healthy life will be shortened by a whole host of health problems including diabetes, cancer and heart disease.”
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