What is the ‘Big’ sport and physical activity policy that would create a seismic shift in levels of physical activity and sport in the UK?

It was a good question asked by my good friend Nick Pontefract — formerly the Head of Sport at DCMS and now COO at Sport England.

The question is not as obvious as it sounds. Quite rightly Nick asked us all to think of the equivalent of the policy ‘Big Idea’ on the scale of the Universal Basic Income — a genuinely transformative, generational game changer? All too often those of us involved in Policy making can concentrate on the here and now and how to get through the next Spending review, Budget, Government Strategy or Manifesto. These are not bad things to do but they miss lifting the horizon to these much bigger ideas that will transform the landscape. Some of the responses to Nick’s tweet were helpful but fell into this category. Merely tweaks and changes in emphasis within the current structures. Given the scale of the problem we can’t expect tweaks to change society and our activity levels. There is something more radical needed.