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Councillor Izzi Seccombe responds to a House of Commons Health Committee report on obesity

"The key to tackling the obesity crisis, which is costing the NHS over £5 billion every year, is investing in prevention. This saves money for other parts of the public sector by reducing demand for hospital, health and social care services, and improves the public's health.

"Councils are running fantastic schemes which are helping children stay healthy, and working with schools and business on a range of physical activity and healthy eating projects. However, they could do so much more with the right resources.

"The difficult cuts announced by the Government in the Spending Review last week – an annual real-term cut of 3.9% in councils' public health budgets over the next five years - on top of a £200m in-year cut already announced this year, will have a major impact on the many prevention and early intervention services carried out by councils to combat child obesity.

"At a time when the Government has issued its firm commitment to the NHS Five Year Forward View - with prevention at its core – it is short-sighted to then cut the public health budget.

"The NHS could end up spending billions more - at a time when it is least equipped to – because a generation of young people suffer increasingly poor health."

View Health Committee’s report:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmhealth/465/46502.htm

Notes

Reference to 3.9 per cent cut is page 88, para 2.47

Spend by local authorities on childhood obesity and physical inactivity from their public health grant have shown a healthy increase over the three years since transition:

• National child measurement programme £26,633m up 12.8% on previous year
• Physical activity children £32,241 up 41% on previous year
• Child obesity £36,642 up 25% on previous year​

At the end of this year the LGA will publish Tipping the Scales - Case studies on the use of planning powers to restrict hot food takeaways. The document contains case studies of six local authorities which have developed policies and supplementary planning documents to address this issue of the saturation of hot takeaway food.