Agenda item

NHS Brent and Brent Council are in the process of preparing an anti-obesity strategy for the borough. The Select Committee will receive a presentation on this work, including details on the prevalence of obesity in the borough, the strategic objectives contained in the strategy to tackle obesity and the plans for consulting and involving stakeholders in agreeing the strategy and its implementation. Obesity is a major health challenge in Brent (and the rest of the UK) and the strategy provides a useful overview of the issue. Melanie O’Brien, Commissioning Manager for Children’s Health and Simon Bowen, Deputy Director of Public Health, NHS Brent, will give this presentation.

Melanie O’Brien (Joint Commissioner for Child Health, NHS Brent) gave a presentation on the Brent Obesity Strategy and explained that estimated costs due to obesity in Brent were high in comparison with other heath authorities in London, with a prevalence rate of approximately 23%.  In particular, overweight and obesity levels were considerably higher than the national average for school children in Reception and Year Six classes and was more common in boys than girls and in black and mixed race pupils.  In terms of wards, overweight and obesity levels tended to be more prevalent in the south of the Borough, with Stonebridge and Kensal Green wards recording the highest rates.  Melanie O’Brien advised that obesity was also linked to deprivation and lack of exercise, with both of these factors generally higher in the south of the Borough.  The Active People 2 Survey 2008/09 Zero Days Physical Activity revealed a figure of 53.3% for Brent as compared to 49.2% average for West London, 48% average for London and a National Average of 48.1%.

In terms of the Brent Obesity Strategy, Melanie O’Brien stated that its aims were to:-

·         Increase healthy eating and promoting healthy food choices

·         Ensuring the healthy growth and development of young people

·         Building physical activity into our lives

·         Providing high quality personalised advice and support

The Strategy also linked up with other strategies, including the Brent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, the Brent Commissioning Strategy Plan, the Brent Health and Wellbeing Strategy, the Brent Sports and Physical Activity Strategy and the Council’s Corporate Environmental Strategy.  The partnership consisted of 15 members from the Council, NHS Brent, the Acute Sector, Brent Community Services and Primary Care and these members met on a bimonthly basis.  Melanie O’Brien explained that Strategy was overseen by the Obesity Steering Group, whilst the Strategic Obesity Group had commenced work a year ago.  The Strategy was presently at the draft stage and would shortly be subject to an extensive and robust consultation.  Upon approval by the Council and PCT Management Teams, a formal consultation would then follow prior to the Strategy’s official launch in October 2010.  The strategic pillars that would underpin the Strategy include influencing the business sector, support educational establishments, improve clinical care pathways and improve sport and physical activity to achieve the anticipated outcomes.  Melanie O’Brien highlighted the priorities for investment, explaining that not all could be implemented immediately.

Councillor R Moher added that restrictions on fast food takeaways being located near schools were currently being considered.  She enquired what steps were being taken to make the healthy school meals programme more robust.  Councillor Crane commented that the issue of obesity was a ticking time bomb to both Brent and the NHS in general.  He stressed the importance in continuing to introduce measures to tackle this problem and he enquired what the objectives were with regard to the consultation.

During discussion by Members of the Committee, Councillor Daly stressed the importance of focusing on individual behaviour changes and the need to persuade food producers and supermarkets to play a role to support such changes.  She commented that more effort in particular was needed in supporting healthy eating for children and enquired if monitoring of children’s background was being undertaken in Children’s Centres.  She also asked why resources were being removed in supporting Early Years services.  Councillor Daly remarked that another challenge was that takeaway food was often a relatively cheap, yet tasty and filling option and for those on lower incomes this was often seen as the preferred option.  Therefore the Strategy needed to take into account ways of tackling this issue.  Councillor Colwill commented with regard to takeaways and schools that consideration of the impact upon the local economy also needed to be considered.  He suggested that children remain in school during lunch hours.  The Chair enquired how much the Government was spending on tackling obesity and what was the overall cost to the UK.

In reply, Melanie O’Brien advised that a School Meals Support Officer had been recruited to support healthy school meals and that all school meals in Brent met the nutritional requirements set.  She stated that the main area of concern was what children ate after school hours.  Members noted that some schools in Brent already had a stay on site policy during lunch hours.  Another measure employed by some schools was to provide meals through a card system and other cashless systems were also being considered as a means of preventing children from spending school dinner money on junk food.  Breakfast clubs were also being created.  With regard to the consultation, this would be over an extensive period between August and mid September and would seek to obtain wider involvement across the Borough.  The consultation would be used to ensure the right priorities were included in the Strategy and the actions needed to take them forward.  Melanie O’Brien advised that the diet at Children’s Centres was being looked at and it was acknowledged that addressing dietary issues in the early years of a person’s life was essential.  The total cost of obesity to the UK was around £7bn and there was a strong link between poverty and obesity.  Melanie O’Brien acknowledged the magnitude of the challenge in changing the behaviour of people over eating habits, however she felt that improvements could be made over a period of time.

Simon Bowen acknowledged that there had been a reduction in funding in Early Years services and that this was a vulnerable area, however every effort would be made to minimise the impact on loss of resources.  With regard to the role that could be played by the large supermarket chains in respect of improving diets, he stated that this was a national issue that the Government was presently considering, however every effort was being made at the local level to also address this issue and support the national objectives.

Kostakis Christodoulou (Head of Health Promotion, NHS Brent) stated that tools were being put in place to allow people to make an informed choice about what they chose to eat, whilst issues raised from the consultation would be acted upon.  Yogini Patel (Deputy Head of Environmental Health) added that a number of measures were being introduced to influence businesses, including encouraging takeaways to offer healthier options, such as grilled chicken.  She advised that a robust evidence base would be required to justify preventing takeaways being given planning permission at locations near schools and that such a measure may take two years to adopt.  Parental behaviour was also being looked at, such as whether they gave money to children for their school lunches.

David Thrale stated that a planning policy of restricting takeaways near schools locations in some East London boroughs had started and although it was in its early stages, appeared to be having success in achieving reductions in childhood obesity.

It was agreed that the Committee would receive an update on the progress in implementing the Strategy in April 2011.