Speaking at the ukactive Summit held today in London (7 November 2013), Sir Keith Mills, founder of Nectar and Air Miles and former deputy chair of LOCOG, criticised the way in which efforts are made to increase participation in

sport.

Mills, who was asked to oversee the aborted attempt to merge UK Sport and Sport England, said: “We spend, depending how you calculate it, between one and two billion pounds of public money in this country each year on sport.

“From school sport, local authority facilities, through to Sport England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, UK Sport, 70-plus governing bodies of sport and so the list goes on. Many of them do a good job – but sadly, some don’t, and there is one thing that is clearly evident and that is that there is very little focus or joined up thinking. Most of these organisations are doing their own thing. We need to adopt a more strategic joined up approach.”

Mills was making his comments at the ukactive Summit, an event which brought together more than 400 delegates with an interest in improving the health of the nation by getting more people, more active, more often.

At the Summit, ukactive launched a national ambition to turn the tide of physical inactivity, highlighting that a 1 per cent reduction in inactivity rates for five years would save an estimated £1.2bn.

Fred Turok, ukactive chairman, said: “Reducing inactivity is where we can deliver the biggest public health gains, tackle health inequalities and get the maximum financial return on our investment.”

This call has been backed by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said: “Turning the tide of inactivity is essential to the health of our nation. I am delighted to support ukactive and its drive for making physical activity part of the DNA of our country.”

Also at the summit, ukactive CEO David Stalker announced this morning that the organisation will be working with tennis coach Judy Murray to promote activity to families.

An interview with Sir Keith Mills and former Williams F1 boss Adam Parr talking about how they are using sport to inspire a generation is available in the Q4 edition of Leisure Management magazine (p44). Read it here.