Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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534. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the national physical activity plan in view of the fact that the plan ran from 2016 to 2020; if the plan will be continued; if not, if a new plan will be developed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2495/21]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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535. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the review of the national physical activity plan in view of the fact that the plan ran from 2016 to 2020; the way in which the measures were implemented; the remaining outstanding measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2496/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 534 and 535 together.

Get Ireland Active! – the National Physical Activity Plan for Irelandwas launched on 14 January, 2016. The key target identified in the Plan is to increase the number of people taking regular exercise by 1% per annum over the lifetime of the Plan, to be achieved by making physical activity a normal part of everyday life and giving people more opportunities to be active.

The goal is to create an environment where everybody lives, works and plays in a society that facilitates, promotes and supports physical activity and an active way of life, with less time spent being sedentary.

The NPAPhas a wide scope, including action areas that address public communication, children and young people, health, the environment (both natural and built), workplaces, community sport and physical activity and research, monitoring and evaluation. These action areas have been implemented through partnership with a wide range of stakeholders from across the various sectors and significant progress has been made.

Key achievements to date include:

- Incorporation of physical activity as a key element of the Healthy Ireland National Communications Campaigns, including the current Keep Well campaign aimed at supporting resilience in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic;

- Supporting the Department of Education in the provision of physical activity and physical education in schools, including support for the Active School Flag programme;

- Establishment of the Healthy Ireland Fund, which provides significant supports for sport and physical activity initiatives and has a focus on supporting measures aimed at disadvantaged groups or communities, children and young families;

- Extension of the number of Community Sport and Physical Activity Hubs;

- Continued expansion of community walking groups under the Get Ireland Walking Strategy;

- Engagement with key stakeholders to progress actions aimed at increasing national participation in physical activity, including support for the European Week Of Sport in September every year;

- Co-ordination and implementation of the aims and objectives of the NPAPwith the National Sports Policy 2018 – 2027;

- Progressing research into effective physical activity interventions, both through the Research Sub-Group and on an all-island basis through the Irish Physical Activity Research Collaboration (iPARC);

- Monitoring levels of physical activity, both for use in domestic policy development and to meet our international reporting requirements, through the Irish Sports Monitor, the Healthy Ireland Survey, the all-island Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study and the international Health Behaviours in School-Aged Children Study;

- Considering the role of the environment, both built and natural, in enabling and promoting physical activity (a Stakeholder Forum on this topic was held in late 2018).

It had been intended to conduct a review of the current NPAP in 2020; however, this was delayed as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The National Physical Activity Plan Implementation Group has therefore formally agreed that the policy will be extended to the end of 2021 and a review will take place in 2021.

Significant progress has been made on almost all of the 60 actions within the defined timeframes; more details will be available through the 2019 NPAP Progress Report, which will be published shortly.

Whilst many of the actions can be deemed to be completed, further progress will continue to be made pursuant to ongoing actions, past the target dates set out in the original plan. The proposed review will identify any outstanding actions which may need to be redefined or progressed further. It is intended that the Review will also include recommendations regarding refreshing, renewing or extending the National Physical Activity Plan for the years ahead.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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536. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the national physical activity plan implementation group; if it continues to oversee the progress of the plan; the frequency with which the group has met from the start of 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2497/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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An Implementation Group was established in 2016 to progress the recommendations of the National Physical Activity Plan. It is co-chaired by the Departments of Health and Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

It includes representatives from the Departments of Education, Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and Rural and Community Development. The HSE, Sport Ireland, the Federation of Irish Sport, the Local Government Management Association and the academic sector are also represented.

The Group met twice online in 2020, in May and in December, and will continue to meet and oversee the final elements of implementation in 2021.

Given the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Group has decided to formally extend the end date of the National Physical Activity Plan to the end of 2021.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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537. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the national physical activity plan 2019 summary progress report; when it will be completed and published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2498/21]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Drafting of the annual Summary Progress Report of the National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP) requires the collation of annual progress made on all 60 actions of the Report and consequently requires input from the wide array of stakeholders and partners represented on the NPAP Implementation Group.

These include the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, the Department of Education, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Department of Education, the Department of Rural and Community Development, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Local Government Management Agency, the Health Service Executive, Sport Ireland, the Federation of Irish Sport and representatives of the academic and research community.

Many of our partners were forced to redeploy staff resources to address the challenges posed by the onset of Covid-19; compilation and review of the report was therefore delayed until the requisite information could be gathered and reviewed. However, the report has now been completed and its content was approved at the most recent meeting of the NPAP Implementation Group in December.

The NPAP Progress Report for 2019 is currently at the design stage. It is envisaged that the design will be reviewed and approved and the Report will be published on the Healthy Ireland website before the end of February.