At @healthfoundation.bsky.social, we've written about the kinds of changes to national policy that can help support the building blocks of health such as access to green space and creating a healthy environment in various reports.

For example, here: www.health.org.uk/topics/wider...

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These data - together with the ongoing inequalities in % of people who are active - suggest structural barriers remain that mean not everyone has the same opportunity to live active lives, and to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that come from this.

There are also differences in attitudes with people from lower socioeconomic groups and with a disability / long term health condition being less likely to feel they have the ability and opportunity to be active.

There's tonnes more on things like attitudes, outcomes and type of activity.

In particular, note v disappointing drop in people walking for leisure or using active travel compared with last yr.

+ cycling numbers are the lowest since survey started - although the numbers running has increased.

And many inequalities are widening.

For example, in 15/16, 58.0% of adults living in the most deprived areas of England (bottom three deciles) were active compared to 55.5% now.

By contrast, the % of active adults who live in the least deprived three deciles has increased from 66.1% to 68.9%.

But there are big differences between different population groups.

Levels of activity are higher among men, people in higher socio-economic groups, living in less deprived areas, younger adults, people of Mixed or White ethnicity, and people without a disability or long-term health condition.

This is an annual nationally representative (huge) survey of 172,000 adults in England providing valuable data on national trends in physical activity.

The headline's that 63.7% of adults are 'active' - doing more than 150mins of 'moderate intensity' activity a week - the highest % since 2015/16.

Data and charts here: www.health.org.uk/features-and...

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Our polling shows broad support for gov interventions that represent a bolder national approach to tackling these leading risk factors.

This bolder approach is essential if Labour is to meet its ambitions to improve healthy life expectancy, drive economic growth and reduce inequalities. 10/

Tobacco, alcohol & unhealthy food remain the leading preventable causes of poor health.

With the Tobacco & Vapes Bill in progress, gov has shown it can act on public health.

However, they are yet to set out a comprehensive approach to obesity policy, and alcohol policy remains neglected. 9/

As such, it remains crucial the government engages different populations and communities to understand and reduce any real or perceived harms from these policies.

Full data tables can be found in the downloads section here: www.ipsos.com/en-uk/public...
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Support also varies by deprivation level.

Support outweighs opp for all policies across all deprivation quintiles, but is lower among people living in more deprived areas for policies like limiting fast food outlets near schools and introducing a tax on companies producing foods high in sugar/salt.

Support for some policies varies by voting intention.

For example, MUP and extending the indoor smoking ban to include outdoor spaces in the hospitality sector have net support among people who intended to vote Lab, Con & Lib Dem, but net opposition among those intending to vote Reform. 6/

Lowest levels of support - although still net positive - were for alcohol policies.

This includes minimum unit pricing (MUP) where 46% support compared with 31% oppose, and banning marketing of alcohol at sporting events (48% support and 23% oppose). 5/

There was also majority support for a range of unhealthy food policies.

This includes limiting fast food outlets near schools and introducing a tax on orgs that produce foods high in sugar or salt and using the revenue for fruit and veg for low income families. 4/

Support outweighs opposition across all interventions polled this time around.

The policy with most support was extending the indoor smoking ban to outdoor spaces such as parks and hospitals.

And there was also net support for extending it to outdoor spaces in pubs, bars, cafes and clubs 3/

This round of polling was from Nov 2024. We asked about a range of policies aimed at tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food.

As with previous rounds, we were able to separate results by factors including age, deprivation level and voting intention – including for the first time Reform UK. 2/

Putting the Folk into Manchester Folk Festival.