Abstract
BackgroundThe Public Health Responsibility Deal (RD) in England is a public-private partnership involving voluntary pledges between government, industry, and other organisations to improve public health by addressing alcohol, food, health at work, and physical activity. This paper analyses the RD physical activity (PA) pledges in terms of the evidence of their potential effectiveness, and the likelihood that they have motivated actions among organisations that would not otherwise have taken place.MethodsWe systematically reviewed evidence of the effectiveness of interventions proposed in four PA pledges of the RD, namely, those on physical activity in the community; physical activity guidelines; active travel; and physical activity in the workplace. We then analysed publically available data on RD signatory organisations’ plans and progress towards achieving the physical activity pledges, and assessed the extent to which activities among organisations could be attributed to the RD.ResultsWhere combined with environmental approaches, interventions such as mass media campaigns to communicate the benefits of physical activity, active travel in children and adults, and workplace-related interventions could in principle be effective, if fully implemented. However, most activities proposed by each PA pledge involved providing information or enabling choice, which has limited effectiveness. Moreover, it was difficult to establish the extent of implementation of pledges within organisations, given that progress reports were mostly unavailable, and, where provided, it was difficult to ascertain their relevance to the RD pledges. Finally, 15 % of interventions listed in organisations’ delivery plans were judged to be the result of participation in the RD, meaning that most actions taken by organisations were likely already under way, regardless of the RD.ConclusionsIrrespective of the nature of a public health policy to encourage physical activity, targets need to be evidence-based, well-defined, measurable and encourage organisations to go beyond business as usual. RD physical activity targets do not adequately fulfill these criteria.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-015-0264-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Physical inactivity is a leading cause of death worldwide [1]
We focused our analysis on four out of the five Responsibility Deal (RD) PA pledges (Table 1) that had been made by the end of 2013 [6]; i.e. physical activity in the community; physical activity guidelines; active travel; and physical activity in the workplace
What types of interventions are proposed within the RD PA pledges? The majority of RD physical activity interventions are about provision of information to the consumer or enabling choice (Table 1)
Summary
6-10 % of all deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) can be attributed to physical inactivity [2]. The Public Health Responsibility Deal in England (RD) was launched in March 2011 by the Government as a public-private partnership involving voluntary agreements in the areas of food, alcohol, health at work and physical activity [6]. The RD aims to bring together those with an interest from government, academia, the corporate sector and voluntary organisations who can commit to a range of pledges which aim to improve. The physical activity pledge delivery plans and progress reports are available on the RD website The Public Health Responsibility Deal (RD) in England is a public-private partnership involving voluntary pledges between government, industry, and other organisations to improve public health by addressing alcohol, food, health at work, and physical activity. This paper analyses the RD physical activity (PA) pledges in terms of the evidence of their potential effectiveness, and the likelihood that they have motivated actions among organisations that would not otherwise have taken place
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