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It is a well-established fact that regular physical activity reduces the risk of a range of conditions including heart disease, stroke, hypertension, colon cancer and type 2 diabetes.

Six out of ten men and seven out of ten women are just not active enough to benefit their health, doing less than the recommended 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. Among children, four out of ten boys and five out of ten girls are not meeting the recommended one hour of exercise a day.

LEAP is a £2.6 million programme jointly funded by the Department of Health, the Countryside Agency and Sport England. It is designed to test the best ways of encouraging people to be more active, especially those who do little exercise and those at risk from health problems.

The LEAP pilots went live early in 2004 with a wide range of activities reaching various target groups, from activity camps for children to community walking programmes for elderly people recovering from strokes.

The pilots support the Cancer Plan, national service frameworks for CHD, older people, mental health and diabetes, and the forthcoming NSF for children and young people. The pilots will run for 2 years and will be rigorously evaluated to find out what works well and why, with the results shared with interested groups nationally such as strategic health authorities, local government and PCTs.