Diabetes in Sport

Tom Gordon Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephanie Peacock]

My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point, and I will come on to discuss that shortly.

We all share a responsibility to enable, support and include people who are managing health conditions such as diabetes, including in sporting environments. Increasing physical activity and reducing inactivity is part of the Government’s health agenda to shift from treatment to prevention. Our 10-year health plan published in July 2025 commits to taking a place-based approach to physical activity. We will invest £250 million in 100 places through Sport England, invest £400 million in local community sport facilities, and develop new school sport partnerships to support schools and families in establishing healthy physical activity behaviours early on. Sport England’s place-based partnerships show that where investment in physical activity is designed with local people, physical inactivity rates were nearly 4 percentage points lower.

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

I am chair of the all-party parliamentary group for diabetes, and over the summer, we visited the Northern general hospital in Sheffield. We met healthcare professionals who spoke about their one-stop shop for people with diabetes. They want to deliver services in communities, and in places with grassroots community sports. Does she agree that this might be a perfect opportunity that ties into what she describes?

[Stephanie Peacock]

Absolutely. The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I would love to hear more about that example in Sheffield, just down the road from my constituency. He brings me neatly on to the example that I was going to share. I recently saw some of this work in action when I visited Essex. There, local council leaders are working in partnership with Active Essex, local health services and leisure providers to knit services together. They are building strong links between the health and leisure sectors, including by co-locating services, so that people have easy access to a wide range of physical activity opportunities. That means, for example, that people with long-term health conditions can access activities that not only improve their physical health, but are fun and social and, in some cases, contribute to getting them back into work.

Of course, excellent examples of the work being done are local NHS and social prescribing services, as my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) said. They can direct individuals with long-term conditions to various local physical activity opportunities, such as public leisure facilities, walking groups and nature-based exercise as part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs funding for green social prescribing. Parkrun is linked with over 2,000 GP practices, and offers a free option for all abilities.

Sport England funds and provides guidance and education for their system partners. It funds “Moving Medicine”, a Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine initiative that provides resources to support healthcare professionals in integrating physical activity conversations into routine clinical care. That includes specific guidance on type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Sport England’s Buddle programme provides free learning and support resources to inspire and strengthen clubs and organisations offering sport and physical activity, as well the professionals who work with them. Buddle shares the latest information, training and tools, to help clubs and organisations overcome challenges and make the most of the opportunities available to them. That includes sharing case studies and signposting further guidance to enable those with long-term health conditions to exercise safely and effectively.

The national “We Are Undefeatable” campaign, funded by Sport England, inspires and supports people to be active by showing people living with a variety of conditions—both visible and invisible—on their journeys to being active. The campaign aims to address the stigma around exercising with disabilities and long-term health conditions, to reduce exclusion from physical activity.

My hon. Friend the Member for Redditch gave incredibly powerful and moving examples of the impact that stigma can have, showing clearly that there is more to do to ensure that the sport sector provides the support needed for those with diabetes. We expect all national governing bodies to have plans in place to support those with long-term health conditions, and to make the most of the training and support on offer from the professional development body for sport and physical activity and from the NHS. Although the research that my hon. Friend referred to indicates a lack of clear, explicit policies on chronic conditions, such as diabetes, in many NGBs, the legal requirement not to discriminate and to make reasonable adjustments remains in force.

The research clearly shows that some areas of inclusion have more developed policies than others, as is the case with diabetes. That disparity suggests the need for a more co-ordinated and robust approach to supporting individuals with chronic health conditions in sport. We will therefore continue to look for further answers, including through Sport England conducting research with Diabetes UK on the barriers to and opportunities for physical activity. I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch and the organisations that he mentioned.

Ultimately, this is about every part of the system—from the NHS to national governing bodies, and from leaders to local partners—playing their part in making sport and physical activity easier to access and manage alongside diabetes.

[Tom Gordon]

I thank the Minister for being very generous with her time. One key point is that when it comes to exercise and sport, our most formative experiences are at school. When my sister was at high school, diabetes carried a massive stigma, and she was told that she would have to inject her insulin in a toilet, which was completely inappropriate. Does the Minister agree that we must ensure that people with diabetes have positive experiences, starting as early as school?

[Stephanie Peacock]

I absolutely agree. I thank the hon. Gentleman for his work with the all-party parliamentary group.

In summary, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch and Members across the House for their contribution to this debate. As much as anything else, public awareness is key to this agenda. I hope that my hon. Friend can take from my response that the Government are committed to getting more people active, no matter their background. I am hugely passionate about this agenda, as I know that being physically active and playing sport is genuinely life-changing, and, if anything, can be even more important for those with long-term health conditions. I will happily continue to work with him on this issue.

Question put and agreed to.