Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding they provide for (1) research and development in new technologies to monitor inactivity, and (2) evaluating the impact of local programmes to tackle inactivity.

The usual practice of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and of the Medical Research Council (MRC) is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available.

Public funders including the NIHR, the MRC, other Research Councils and Innovate UK fund a wide range of research relating to monitoring of physical activity/inactivity and the development and evaluation of interventions to support and encourage healthy behaviours including physical activity.

For example, the NIHR has recently funded a £0.8 million trial to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Football Fans in Training (FFIT) - a group-based, weight management and healthy living programme delivered by community coaches. The report of the study has been published in the NIHR Journals Library and is attached.