Active Scotland Delivery Plan

Leadership and Evidence

Leadership at both local and national level is essential to mobilise resources and implement actions to increase participation. We also need to ensure that we are aware of the latest academic research to inform the direction of policy and that we have robust evidence of impact for surveillance, monitoring and accountability.

Our Actions

1. To ensure both a clear focus on working in partnership to deliver the actions set out in this plan and a wider strategic approach drawing on the latest evidence and emerging priorities, we will reconstitute the National Strategic Group on Sport and Physical Activity as an Active Scotland Delivery Group and an Active Scotland Development Group to focus on each of these roles respectively (Active Scotland).

2. We will place a greater focus on involving a wider range of organisations and individuals in co-ordinating priorities and actions for physical activity and sport in Scotland. These will include:

• Exploring opportunities across all Scottish Government Ministerial portfolios to develop joint action which encourages and supports people to be more physically active (Active Scotland);

• Exploring with Local Authorities, Health Boards and other key partners how we can support the exchange of good practice and shared learning and identify how national actions can be translated into local delivery (Active Scotland);

• Building on existing events and networks such as the Scottish Physical Activity Research Connections ( SPARC) and Physical Activity Health Alliance ( PAHA) to bring together researchers, practitioners, delivery partners and policy officials, providing opportunities to assess collective progress and consider emerging evidence (Active Scotland).

3. We will work with those delivering sport and physical activity programmes and initiatives to strengthen the evidence base and case studies which underpin this activity. This will enable us to make a clear and strong case for the benefits of investing in sport and physical activity to deliver a wide range of positive outcomes (Active Scotland).

4. We will explore opportunities to align data collection within the new Health and Wellbeing census being designed as part of the National Improvement Framework and the Excellence agenda (Education Scotland).

5. We will promote awareness and uptake of the updated Chief Medical Officers' Guidelines for Physical Activity (Active Scotland).