Written question WQ89233
- Asked by
- James EvansConservative
- To be answered by
- Minister for Health and Social Services
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 6 days
Question
What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the Wales National Exercise Referral Scheme to date and what plans does the Minister have for its continuation and possible expansion?
Answer
Answered by Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing
High quality physical activity is essential for a more active, healthy life, which is why the National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) has been delivered since 2007 across all 22 local authorities in Wales. Full strategic and operational oversight of the scheme is managed by Public Health Wales (PHW) following the transfer of operational oversight from the Welsh Local Government Association in April 2022.
Welsh Government commissioned the original Randomised Controlled Trial of NERS in 2010. Since then, PHW have undertaken a wide range of work to support the effective delivery of the programme including evidence reviews, a service delivery review and collaborating with the University of Hertfordshire on an evaluation of scheme comparing the virtual and hybrid models of delivery established during the COVID-19 pandemic, with usual face-to-face delivery. The findings from these pieces of work have been summarised in the recently developed NERS Improvement Plan which was presented and approved by the National NERS Advisory Board on the 26 of September 2023.
NERS is funded as part of Public Health Wales’s core funding.