WIREDGOV

The fight against obesity is set to have cost councils more than half a billion pounds since taking over public health from the NHS three years ago.

The Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 councils, says local authorities anticipate having spent £505 million tackling obesity in adults and children, following the transfer of public health responsibility in April 2013.

But councils warn that the recent cuts by government to their public health grants are already having an impact on their ability to reduce obesity.

Newly published figures for how much councils expect to spend tackling obesity in 2016/17 are forecast to be £127 million – down on the £140 million estimated in 2015/16.

Councils use the funding to, for example, commission weight management services, exercise referral schemes and extending the offer of free or reduced-cost sport – for example swimming – and leisure facilities.

In 2014/15 councils spent £126 million, and £112 million in 2013/14 on tackling obesity.

The LGA said these figures illustrate the amount of prevention work councils are carrying out and show the scale of the obesity crisis the nation faces.

The numbers also include the cost of running the Government's National Child Measurement Programme, which councils are responsible for.

The programme currently calculates a child's BMI when they start and leave primary school.

Most recent figures for England in 2014/15 found that one in 10 four and five-year-olds and one in five 10 and 11-year-olds are obese.

If current trends are not reversed, the overall cost to the economy of obesity and overweight conditions could increase from between £6 billion and £8 billion in 2015 to between £10 billion and £12 billion in 2030.

The LGA has previously called on government to bring in measures to reduce sugar content in fizzy drinks, teaspoon sugar labelling to enable more informed choice, greater provision of tap water in schools and restaurants, and for councils to be given powers to ban junk food advertising near schools.

The LGA's Community Wellbeing Portfolio Holder, Cllr Izzi Seccombe, said:

"The staggering amount of money councils are having to plough into obesity prevention work shows the sheer scale of the crisis we face.

"Councils are without doubt the best placed to tackle obesity before it becomes a problem, and the huge investment they are making shows how committed they are to dealing with the issue.

"From working with children who are obese and overweight to encouraging children to cut their consumption of sugary drinks, since taking over responsibility for public health three years ago, local authorities have been leading the way in the fight against obesity.

"But we would like assurances from the Government's new administration that the long-awaited childhood obesity strategy is still on track and that it includes tough measures that will help to reverse the rise in costs and children becoming obese.

"Today's obese children will be tomorrow's obese adults, and with this comes a range of costly and debilitating major health conditions."

Notes to editors

1. Healthy weight, healthy futures: Local government action to tackle childhood obesity http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/publications/-/journal_content/56/10180/7742768/PUBLICATION 
2. A study by McKinsey and Company in 2014 estimated that obesity was a greater burden on the UK's economy than armed violence, war and terrorism, costing the country nearly £47 billion a year. The report found that obesity has the second-largest economic impact on the UK behind smoking, generating an annual loss equivalent to 3 per cent of GDP. The cost of obesity and overweight conditions could increase from between £6 billion and £8 billion in 2015 to between £10 billion and £12 billion in 2030. http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/how-the-world-could-better-fight-obesity 
3. Government has reduced councils' public health grant by £331 million from 2016/17 to 2020/21. This follows a £200 million in-year reduction in 2015/16.