Adam Briggs

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.

Record numbers playing sport and taking part in physical activity | Sport England Sport England releases its Active Lives Adult Survey Report for 2023/24, showing record numbers of people are playing sport and taking part in physical activity.

The latest Sport England Active Lives Adults Survey report has been published today, covering data up to 2023/24. 🧵

www.sportengland.org/news-and-ins...

New @bmj.com opinion piece with Zoe Rostas out this evening unpicking our @healthfoundation.bsky.social / @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social public health polling data:

www.bmj.com/content/389/...

What action does the public think the government should take on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food? Public polling shows there is broad support for bolder population-level action on the leading risk factors of ill health, writes Adam Briggs.

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/

The public are largely supportive of government public health interventions Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the public support extending the indoor smoking ban to specific outside spaces to protect children and vulnerable people, including playgrounds, outside schools and hosp...

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...
8/

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/

Graph summarising Health Foundation / Ipsos polling data. It shows levels of public support across a range of population-level public health policies, some of which are summarised in the thread.

Today, we've published new @healthfoundation.bsky.social / @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social showing the public supports bolder policy approaches to tackle alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy food. 1/n

www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/art...

This image describes the recommendations made in the APPG on Smoking and Health's report calling on government to publish a roadmap to a smokefree country

APPG on Smoking and Health publish report today on how the government can make smoking obsolete. Top line recommendations here

Drug and alcohol treatment and recovery funding allocations: 2025 to 2026

ICYMI, welcome confirmation on Monday of supplementary drug and alcohol funding for local authorities for 25/26.

Although a single year allocation coming right at the end of the financial year doesn't make service planning any easier for local public health teams.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Photo of the panel discussion, with Bola Owolabi, Greg Fell, Shona Arora, Dave Buck and Adam Briggs.

Photo of details of session, it reads: Participants: Dr Shona Arora - Director, Health Equity and Clinical Governance, UKHSA ; Adam Briggs - Senior Policy Fellow, The Health Foundation ; David Buck - Senior Fellow, Public Health and Inequalities, The King's Fund ; Greg Fell - Director of Public Health for Sheffield ; Professor Bola Owolabi - Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme, NHS England Outline: This session will imagine a future, model health system where health equity is embedded at its core. Panellists will discuss what the key levers are that need to be implemented and how our health system needs to evolve to make this change a reality. Participants will leave with an understanding of the systemic and structural barriers within our health system which currently limit our ability to improve equitable health outcomes in England. Participants will then also learn what top three or four interventions could be implemented to address these problems. We hope that attendees will then look at opportunities to make these interventions happen within their own areas of work.

V enjoyable discussion on The Future of Health Equity at #UKHSA25 yesterday.

Thanks to Shona Arora for guiding us through questions on what an equitable health system looks like, and the challenges & opportunities in getting there.

Hats off to conf. organisers for tackling health equity head on.

V much looking forward to discussing the Future of Health Equity at 2:35 today, with Shona Arora and intimidatingly impressive panel, Bola Owolabi, @felly500.bsky.social and @davidjbuck.bsky.social.

Lots to unpick on what needs to change to better embed equity in health and PH.
#UKHSA25

Putting the Folk into Manchester Folk Festival.

Thank you Manchester Folk Festival and New Century Hall. That was proper fun.

(And yes, I did use my NHS Health Check bottle on stage, I know our demographic)

#GetYourFreeNHSHealthCheck #MFF

There’s no quick fix for preventing heart disease, but we have the tools we need to make an impact

Last week, a @bmj.com opinion piece suggested that the NHS Health Check should be abolished and instead, everyone over 50 should be given a polypill.

Here's why it's not such a great idea and what could perhaps be done instead 👇
www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Thinking of public health NHS and DHSC / OHID colleagues who went through PHE’s dissolution during the pandemic just four years ago and are again facing huge professional uncertainty.

Your work remains essential and hugely valued. Thank you.

New opinion piece in @bmj.com on the £200m uplift in the 2025/26 local authority public health grant allocation: is it really enough to shift the dial on prevention and public health?

tl,dr: No, it's not. Yet.

More here 👇
www.bmj.com/content/388/...

And some charts / stats in the thread below.

Public health grant funding—a welcome boost after a decade of neglect This year’s above inflation public health grant settlement is welcome.1 But with declining healthy life expectancy and funding still 26% lower per person than a decade ago, we need a multi-year fundin...

Opinion piece from @admbriggs.bsky.social @healthfoundation.bsky.social and colleagues, on the #publichealth #grant uplift. As often is the case, i agree with Adam's opinions here www.bmj.com/content/388/... (err, though what on earth that photo has to do with it i really don't know...)