Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Director of Public Health.

This short report has been produced in response to a request made at the Scrutiny Committee in June 2016. It summarises some of the sport and physical activity provision across Stockport for people with a disability. Officers from the Council and Life Leisure will be able to answer questions in relation to the provision across Stockport at the meeting.

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to note the provision of sport and physical activity and provide comments.

Officer contact Russ Boaler, 0161 474 3941, boaler@stockport.gov.uk   

The Deputy Director of Public Health submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) responding to a request made at the Health Scrutiny on 28 June 2016 for information about sport and physical activity provision across Stockport for people with a disability. Russ Boaler, the Council’s Consultant for Physical Education, Sport & Physical Activity and the Neil Bardsley, Sport & Health Development Manager at Life Leisure, also attended the meeting to answer questions from Councillors.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         What general facilities were able to cater for those with additional needs and disabilities? The fitness suites at the Seashell Trust and Avondale Recreation Centre were adapted to cater for a wider cliental, and the former facility was also used for by elite para-athletes, some of whom were participating in the Rio Para-Olympic Games.

·         Were there lessons from encouraging the use of facilities at Avondale that could be shared? Life Leisure had worked with the Federation for Disabled Sport to target those with disabilities to emphasise the need for, and benefit of, physical activity, but there was not a ‘one size fits all’ message for those with disabilities.

·         What publicity do these services receive? Were GPs aware of these facilities? Councillors expressed concerns that there was insufficient awareness of these facilities amongst the general population and disabled groups.

·         Partners undertook lots of work in schools and engaged lots of young people, but the challenge was to translate activity in school into a community setting, because rates of participation declined outside of school. A family’s circumstances often determined whether or not children could participate in these activities. Partners also worked with existing groups and through existing mechanisms to promote messages and services. It was also commented that Life Leisure worked hard at promoting their services and were a common presence at community events with their stalls etc. The Stockport Health and Care Finder App aimed to signpost to a range of provision, including this type of activity, and this was continuously updated and available to both professionals and the public.

·         Was it an aspiration for all facilities across borough to gain the accreditation Avondale had for its disabled facilities? It was, but there were often physical constraints that prevented more being done due to size of specialist equipment.

·         Did Stockport benchmark itself against other areas? There was not general benchmarking information available and this was not something that was routinely monitored except for specific projects. Sport England had recently launched an initiative to monitor this activity, although this was too recent to draw any conclusions. Anecdotally, Stockport was performing well.

·         It was important to encourage participation in the same activity and sport by disabled and abled bodies people, and children in particular. The SeaShell Trust had done significant work to encourage this, and many local sports clubs also had mixed provision.

·         Ensuring those with disabilities had access to a range of opportunities was important to improve health but also quality of life.

Councillors commended partners for the work being done and encouraged greater awareness raising of the opportunities available for those with disabilities to be active and participate in sport.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted and Russ Boaler and Neil Bardsley be thanked for their attendance and presentation.