Penny Mordaunt MP Announces New Partnership to Support Disabled People being Active

The Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health, Penny Mordaunt MP has unveiled plans for a pioneering cross-sector scheme to give disabled people and those with long-term health conditions better access to physical activity opportunities.

The cross-sector initiative – to be led by Ukactive, Sport England, Disability Rights UK and the English Federation of Disability Sport – will aim to remove barriers to physical activity for disabled people so they can tap into its myriad benefits.

Speaking at the Ukactive National Summit in Westminster, the Minister said: "The aim of this partnership is to create a cultural shift and change in perceptions around disabled people's participation in physical activity, and to create a national ambition within the physical activity sector to become more inclusive for disabled people".

In order to accomplish this, the partnership is developing a project which will take an holistic approach to the sector.

The scheme will identify the baseline of current activity levels, facility usage and sector engagement, and bring together insight from disabled people and operators within the sector. It will explore the customer journey that disabled people experience and - as The Minister noted detail "the difficulties disabled people experience in participating in physical activity".

The initiative will also create flagship sites with six operators – PureGym, David Lloyd Leisure, Everyone Active, Virgin Active, Greenwich Leisure Limited and Places for People – who were praised by the Minister for supporting the development of the scheme. They will test, validate, and promote the changes that can be made to improve disabled people's active use of leisure facilities.

Source: Ukactive, 2017