Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to include a) gyms, b) swimming pools, and c) leisure centres in the neighbourhood health schemes.

Neighbourhood health sits at the heart of the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan. Our ambition is to build a service that: delivers more personalised care closer to where people live; empowers individuals to lead healthier, more independent lives; and offers genuine choice in how to access support. Further information on the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future

We are engaging with local government sector representatives, as well as the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector, to understand how neighbourhood health plans and centres can make best use of the full range of existing local assets, as well as create opportunities to co-locate and join up a broad range of health-impacting services. This includes those that are local authority commissioned and owned as well as those that are National Health Service commissioned and owned.

We will be publishing further guidance to support local areas to develop Neighbourhood Health Plans in due course. This will set out how the NHS, local authorities, and partners should work together under the leadership of Health and Wellbeing Boards to develop and implement plans.

We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in rural communities, coastal towns, and/or deprived inner cities.