Agenda item

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Director of Public Health, setting out an overview of childhood obesity in Kent, the services available to support families and areas of consideration for future action.  The committee is asked to endorse the work going on and agree to a further report to the committee on joint working between agencies to tackle obesity.   

Ms S Bennett, Consultant in Public Health, was in attendance for this item.

1.            Ms Bennett introduced the report and responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following:-

a)    local initiatives sought to tackle childhood obesity, for example, the provision of bicycles so children could cycle to school, ‘fizz-free February’ to reduce sugar intake from fizzy drinks, ‘beat the street’ and the supply of vegetables to children at school, and these could be spread to other areas of the county in a co-ordinated programme;

b)    the County Council was committed to a programme of preventative measures to tackle childhood obesity, including those services delivered by the school public health service, which pursued a ‘whole school’ approach, including PE and active playtimes.  The Ofsted recommendation for the minimum amount of PE was two hours per week;

c)    asked if the school public health service included a visiting nurse who would inspect children’s teeth regularly, Ms Bennett advised that the aim of the school public health service, which was delivered by KCHFT, was to support schools to be healthier overall.  Pupils would be weighed in Reception and Year 6 and the statistics used to build on overall picture of the health of the school. The inspection of children’s teeth was not part of the service, but colleagues in Early Help were seeking to link a dentist to children’s centres to offer regular checks;

d)    obesity was known to exacerbate other health problems, and Ms Bennett was asked what the County Council could do to ensure that appropriate facilities were made available, for example, for children with complex needs.  Ms Bennett explained that the lack of Tier 3 services, to support people with complex needs, including social needs, was an issue on which the County Council had undertaken research to identify the level of need across the county and was lobbying the STP prevention group to increase provision;  

e)    the role of parents in safeguarding their children’s health was highlighted.  20% of children in Reception classes were obese, so this situation had arisen at home rather than at school; children consumed more meals at home than they did at school. Much was made of lifestyle choices but 3-year-olds did not make those choices. It was for a parent, not the state, to bring up their child. Ms Bennett advised that children’s centres gave talks to parents about healthy diet at the time when babies moved on to solid food, but engaging with parents was a challenge, generally. When a Reception-age child was weighed at school and found to be overweight, the child’s parents would receive a call from the school public health service, offering an appointment to talk and get advice about healthy eating, but this option generally had a low take-up. Some parents simply did not recognise the problem, as they had been brought up in the same poor food environment and had no better role model to offer their children;

f)      a comment was made that the report had been titled ‘childhood obesity’ yet obesity did not represent the whole picture of children’s health; and

g)    attention was drawn to the need for a balance between the calories consumed in food and the level of physical activity which would use and burn off those calories.  Weighing of children at regular intervals at school was useful to identify those who were overweight, but there was a risk that children who were a healthy weight might nevertheless develop an unhealthy body image as a result of frequent checks and focus on weight. Ms Bennett agreed that the causes of obesity were complex. She referred to various national and local measures which could be used to address the availability of junk food and promote a healthy eating message by food placement and advertising in supermarkets, and to ban junk food from being advertised on television before a ‘watershed’ time. Work such as the Headstart Kent programme would help to support children, teach them to be more resilient and learn to make their own healthy choices.

2.            It was RESOLVED that:-

a)    the information set out in the report, especially the profile of childhood obesity in Kent and the service offer currently available, be noted and endorsed; and

b)    a further report be submitted to the committee on effective and systematic joint working between agencies, including children’s centres, in order to tackle obesity.