When we become adults our participation in sport and exercise very often takes a sharp dive. Expense and lack of time are often the most-cited reasons for people’s descent into inactivity, especially those who have families and jobs.

But inactivity can lead to far greater problems, and the current obesity crisis can be laid firmly at the door of the twin evils of lack of exercise and poor diet. Bradford MP Gerry Sutcliffe is determined to do something about at least one of those problems, and for that he should be applauded.

Mr Sutcliffe – a former Sports Minister in the government – has come up with a great suggestion for helping people get back into exercise: subsidised or free sports clubs and activities in the workplace.

This is nothing new of course – many larger factories and industrial sites very often used to have a sports and social club attached. As money got tighter these were the sorts of things that fell by the wayside, though Mr Sutcliffe says that now the economy is recovering it’s something that should be looked at again.

It’s an eminently sensible suggestion. A healthy, fit and active workforce can only be good news for any company. People who are active are fresher, sharper and less likely to be off sick, which surely improves the productivity of any firm.

Of course, not every company is big enough to have its own sports club, but perhaps subsidised gym memberships, smaller firms teaming up to share facilities, and an encouragement for people to walk or bike into work might well pay dividends for any business in the future.