Hosting have-a-go table tennis clubs in shopping centres could be one way to Scots more physically active, MSPs have been told.

An initiative at the Gyle centre in Edinburgh has been “phenomenally successful” in getting shoppers to try their hand at ping-pong, sometimes for the first time in years, a Holyrood committee was told yesterday.

But during the evidence session being held as part of an inquiry into social prescribing, witnesses said accessibility – or a lack of it – was stopping initiatives like this, which are part of a growing movement of social prescribing that advocates a social, rather than medical model of healthcare, being used more widely.

“If we’re looking at getting people more active in more deprived communities,” Martin Hayman of Table Tennis Scotland said. “We’ve got to make the sport and physical activity opportunities as close and as local as possible.”

“Let’s work really hard at taking down those barriers and making this as easy as possible for somebody to cross the threshold and get involved.

“Because when they do, in the right social, fun environment, where it is clearly enjoyable, they’ll stick at it.”

Meanwhile other witnesses said access to funding was a “continuing issue”.

Kim Atkinson of the Scottish Sport Association it was “simply unfair” to think charities and voluntary groups could change people’s behaviour when they have to stick to short-term budgets.

“One of the major barriers,” she added, “is access to resources. We have clubs saying they cannot get in because the facilities are too expensive or because they are closed and yet we’re saying go”.

Campaigners have previously warned of the dangers of telling people to get out on their bikes when road conditions can be dangerous.

Cycling UK says tackling ‘hostile’ road conditions should be a priority if policymakers want to get more people pedalling.