The Government's new Sports Strategy shines a spotlight on the essential nature of sport and physical activity in people's everyday lives, and importantly recognises the many programmes and initiatives that contribute to this ambition to improve our national health and wellbeing.

The collective responsibility to improve the health, wellbeing and economic productivity of the nation sits across Whitehall so we welcome the creation of a new Government taskforce to oversee the implementation of the strategy, with industry representatives collaborating with key Departments centrally.

The inclusion in the new strategy of participation targets provides clarity around the Government's ambitions for a more physically active population and to reduce existing inequalities. We look forward to seeing how these ambitions translate into clear, sustainable delivery plans that focus on the growth and development of the sector.

Only by developing and supporting a programme of delivery in conjunction with all our partner organisations and making full use of all aspects of the sector, will this strategy be able to deliver on its ambitions and unlock the full potential of the sector. We believe with the necessary resources and working collaboratively with the sector, we can become one of the world's most active nations and improve outcomes across society.

We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the Government to develop and implement legislative changes and national initiatives to realise these ambitions together."

Rob Purdie, Chairman of the Be Active Board added:

Be Active fully supports new Sports Strategy announced by the government today and the key role we can play in improving Bedfordshire's health and wellbeing.

Our mission is to ensure movement is part of everyone's day to day life, in particular we look to address the inequalities around access to physical activity across Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton using a place-based approach.

We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively both locally and nationally to support a healthier and happier Bedfordshire as well as working to break down barriers to ensure everyone in the county has an equal opportunity to access physical activity.

Andy Taylor, CEO of Active Partnership National Team added:

We welcome the government's new strategy and the recognition of the important role that being physical active can play in improving the nation's health and wellbeing.

The network of 43 non-profit Active Partnerships take a place-based approach to reducing inequalities, so we welcome the importance placed on this in the strategy along with the recognition of the value sport and physical activity has in helping transform people's lives. We partner with local and national stakeholders to affect widespread social change, whether it's bringing communities closer together, connecting people to opportunities, driving greater inclusion, improving health and wellbeing, and economic productivity - we understand the true impact of being active. This also resonates with our role in implementing Sport England's Uniting the Movement in tackling inequalities and ensuring everyone is able to experience the benefits being physically active brings.

We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively across all areas of government and with our national and local partners to ensure we create a fairer, healthier nation.