Chief Medical Officer gives evidence to inquiry on physical activity in an ageing society

By GM Moving | 06 November 2025 | TAGS: older adults, Health, "Active Ageing"

In the summer, GM Moving submitted evidence alongside GM partners to the Health and Social Care Committee in Westminster for their Healthy ageing: Physical activity in an ageing society inquiry.

The inquiry has begun hearing oral evidence in October (video available here) with Kath Hudson at Health Club Management writing this summary of the evidence given.

Professor Chris Whitty (Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health and Social Care) opened the session and advocated strongly for physical activity and movement.

He's clear that there's no silver bullet to tackling the inactivity crisis saying:

“Like most things in medicine, it’s [a] large numbers of things each of which contribute a few percent, there’s no single thing but if we did all of those things, and we know what those things are, and exercise is very firmly one of them…if we do all those things the gap would be narrowed very significantly.”

Professor Whitty also reinforced that it's never too late to start physical activity and how we (the system) must continue to make it easy and attractive for everyone to increase the amount of physical activity they do.

With the focus on healthy ageing, there was plenty of discussion on the need for physical activity that increased strength and balance in addition to the 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise.

It was noted that while there’s no political party arguing for less physical activity, it being named as a government priority would have an impact, particularly within the health and care system. 

Professor Whitty suggested government could “make clear quite how important physical activity and exercise are” and highlighted how “infrastructure [that] acts as a barrier does belong to the state”.

He also acknowledged that there remains challenges for the physical activity sector. The importance of moving more is under-estimated and too often seen as “nice to have”.

At national level, complexity occurs where costs may be incurred by one government department but benefits likely to be seen in another, Professor Whitty explained.

The panel heard lots about the importance of ways of working including: tailor offers to people, consult with groups where activity levels are lowest, and barriers that are multi-facted and complex. 

The need to work differently in different areas, work across government departments, and taking a test and learn approach to create an evidence base, were all recognised in Professor Whitty's evidence. 

In the second hour of the evidence session, Sir Muir Gray, Dr Lis Boulton (Age UK), and Dr Carole Easton (Centre for Ageing Better) gave their evidence to the panel of MPs. 

Sir Muir spoke a lot about education - particularly at the time of retirement as a crucial moment in time when government (via the Department for Work and Pensions) will be speaking to the entire population.

Dr Lis shared that 57% of over 50s surveyed by Age UK said their GP had never spoken to them about physical activity and Dr Carole called for an independent commissioner to champion the rights of older people.

More information on the inquiry is available via Healthy Ageing: physical activity in an ageing society inquiry including written evidence from Sport England and Active Partnerships National Organisation.

The next oral evidence is due on Wednesday 12 November, you can see a full list of speakers here.