Active People Survey
Department of Health data on adult physical activity participation
Questions and Answers
Q1: Where do these data come from?
A: Since January 2009, the Department of Health (DH) has commissioned Sport England to include a
number of questions on wider participation in physical activity in their Active People Survey (APS).
These data were collected between 14th January 2012 and 13th January 2013. For this period, 151,912
adults took part in the survey.
Q2: How do these data differ from APS data published by Sport England?
A: Sport England reports regularly on participation in sport as measured by APS. However, these DH
physical activity participation data are based on participation in the additional activities of walking and
cycling for active travel, dance and gardening alongside sport and recreational walking / cycling. As
such, these data are based on a wider definition of physical activity than the data published by
Sport England.
Q3: How do these data differ from Health Survey for England data?
A: The Health Survey for England data include figures on participation in a broader range of non-sport
activities such as housework, DIY and occupational activities that these data do not include. The
Health Survey for England includes children and young people as well as adults.
Q4: What do these APS data show us?
A: The data presented show the percentage of adults (aged 16 and over) who met the Chief Medical
Officer’s recommended guidelines on levels of physical activity (at least 150 minutes a week), and the
percentage of adults who were inactive (less than 30 minutes a week).
Q5: Can we compare this APS data to previous years’ data?
A: It is not possible to compare these data (APS6) with results from previous set of data (APS5) due
to the differences in collecting data on physical activity. APS5 collected information on physical activity
that was conducted in 30 min blocks, while APS6 collected information on physical activity conducted
in 10 min blocks. See the final page for further information on why APS6 may show much higher
levels of physical activity than APS5 and should therefore not be compared.
Q6: What else is new in this APS6?
A: This year’s data reported four frequencies: <30 minutes, 30-89 minutes, 90-149 minutes, and 150+
minutes. The number of minutes presented is equivalent minutes of moderate activity, which consists
of moderate activity plus double the number of vigorous minutes of activity (see Q7).
Q7: How is the equivalent minutes of moderate activity be counted?
A: ‘Equivalent minutes of moderate activity’ would be calculated on the basis of every one minute of
vigorous being counted as two minutes of moderate intensity activity (e.g. 15 minutes of vigorous
activity would be counted as equivalent to 30 minutes of moderate activity). This figure would be
added to the number of moderate activity minutes to give a more accurate figure for the proportion of
people achieving the guidelines by taking into account the contribution from vigorous activities.
Q8: Why have these changes been made?
A: This change is so that the physical activity measure in the APS6 is more in line with the Chief
Medical Officer’s (CMO) recommendations for physical activity. Measuring in bouts of 10 min is a more
realistic reflection of how people exercise.
Updated July 2013
These data are also used to inform the progress towards the National Ambition for physical activity
and the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) indicator for physical activity. It is important to
give the most accurate measure of the number of people who achieve the guidelines for physical
activity, in order to provide local areas with a suitable measure against the PHOF.
Q9: How should we use these data at Local Authority level? Can we analyse the data to best
suit our needs?
A: These data should be used in conjunction with Sport England data to give a wider perspective of
physical activity levels locally. The data can be used in planning local physical activity interventions
and engaging local partners in physical activity. These data also provide an opportunity to ‘benchmark’
levels of physical activity in localities against other areas.
The data can also be used in association with the Sport England market segmentation data. This
builds on the Active People Survey with information on the type of activities people are likely to do, as
well as their motivations, the brands they aspire to and possible barriers to physical activity.
Q10: Do these data tell us if levels of physical activity are going up or down?
A: This dataset does not illustrate any differences in physical activity over time. The Department of
Health hope to publish regular data on physical activity participation so that future participation trends
can be monitored against the new physical activity guidelines.
Q11: What data should we use when refreshing Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs)?
Sport England or Department of Health or a combination of the two?
A: When refreshing JSNAs, local areas should use data that best suits their aims. This new dataset is
based on physical activity and sport, which should be useful in identifying accurate levels of
participation. It also allows comparison of levels of participation with those reported for other areas.
The datasets published by Sport England provide trend data and information on sports participation,
sport and active recreation, as well as data on some individual sports. Trend information on specific
sports and their participation rates help local partners understand what progress is being made and
the scale of the issues to be addressed. The local sport profile tools on Sport England website
provides further data and support.
NOTES
New physical activity guidelines were launched in July 2011. For adults (19–64 year olds) and older
adults (65+) the minimum recommended levels of activity are:

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At least 150 minutes (two and half hours) each week of moderate intensity physical activity, in
bouts of 10 minutes or more (for example 30 minutes moderate activity on at least 5 days a
week).
For all adults up to age 65 and for those older adults who are already regularly active at
moderate intensity, comparable benefits can be achieved through 75 minutes of vigorous
intensity activity spread across the week or a combination of moderate and vigorous intensity
activity.
All adults should aim to be active daily; muscle strengthening activity should also be included
on at least two days per week.
Older adults at risk of falls should incorporate physical activity to improve balance and coordination on at least two days per week.
In addition, all adults are advised to minimise the time spent being sedentary for extended
periods.
The previous government’s recommended levels of physical activity for adults were 30 minutes or
more of at least moderate intensity physical activity on at least 5 occasions per week.
Updated July 2013
Reasons why APS6 may show much higher levels of physical activity than
previous APS surveys and therefore should not be compared

APS6 moved from asking about physical activity in 30 minute blocks to 10 minute blocks. This will
result in an increased number of blocks of physical activity reported. For example, if an individual
walks for 10 minutes to work each day – over the course of a week they have done 100 minutes of
activity, which would not have been included in previous APS surveys.

APS6 is the first APS survey to present results in terms of equivalent minutes of physical activity:
vigorous activity counts double towards the total number of minutes compared to moderate
activity. Checks are made to reported intensity of activities during the interview.

The APS is a telephone survey with self-reported information regarding an individual’s physical
activity. This could lead to over-reported physical activity in terms of frequency, duration and
intensity. It is possible that over-reporting 10min blocks is more likely than over-reporting 30min
blocks.
Reporting of high values (in minutes or blocks of activity) for individual activities
The distributions of minutes of activity for each activity and for total activity are highly positively
skewed. That suggests that the majority of values are at the lower end of the distribution but there are
a few very high values which will have a large influence on increasing the mean value.
Sport England has checks that identify extreme levels of activity, so if people report either very short
or very long periods of duration then they are asked to confirm this is correct. If they confirm the
duration then Sport England will accept the value. There are checks on individual activity and on total
activity:
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Each activity has both a minimum and maximum duration logic check. The minimum duration for
all activities is 10 minutes and the maximum is set at either 2, 3, 4, or 6 hours depending on the
activity. Therefore, where respondents report a duration of activity outside the range they are
asked a follow up question to confirm this is correct. If they confirm the duration then it is
accepted.
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For the duration question, the data collection system also has an upper limit of 16 hours and 59
minutes. This is therefore the maximum that could ever be recorded, even if the respondent were
to confirm a duration outside the normal range for any given activity. Theoretically, somebody
could participate for longer than this and Sport England would not be able to record activity
beyond the limit. Having now completed well over a million APS interviews, Sport England have
never had any feedback that the 16 hour 59 minute limit is a problem.
In terms of contributions for those achieving 150+ minutes of activity in the APS6 data set, the
average equivalent minutes of total activity per week is around 810 mins (116mins per day). It is likely
that this high mean level of activity is due to both vigorous activity counting double towards the total
number of minutes and the highly skewed distribution. The median value of total activity is around 540
mins per week (77mins per day).
Summary
Despite the changes to the APS that may have led to increased reported values of physical activity,
the changes better reflect the CMO’s guidelines for recommended levels of activity. The PHOF
indicators for physical activity are based on proportions of people meeting the CMO guidelines and the
proportion of people who are inactive. These proportions are less affected by very high reported
values of activity as an individual needs only to exceed the threshold of 150 minutes of activity.
Given the design of the APS, even if the results seem somewhat higher than expected, results should
be repeatable each year so that comparisons between years can be made over time.
Updated July 2013