Government issues funding to 13 local councils for programmes that can reduce childhood obesity.
The Department of Health and Social Care has issued funding of £10,000 each to thirteen local councils in a bid to support their plans to tackle childhood obesity. It is hoped the funding can help to provide targeted support and give the financial backing to develop and launch practical plans.
Following on from this, five successful authorities will then have further financial backing to take their plans forward for the next three years. These five successful projects will receive £100,000 per year to support their plans.
The scheme is part of a programme set forward by the government called Trailblazer which in partnership with Public Health England and the Local Government Association. The Trailblazer programme looks at aspects such as;
- Sharing best practice measures to improve and encourage wider action
- Provide innovative measures to tackle childhood obesity
- Ensure there are solutions in place to tackle any obstacles in the local community
- Consider the future and further actions for developing large-scale
Which councils will receive funding?
Some of the thirteen councils that will receive the £10,000 initial funding include Middlesbrough Council, Walsall Council, Birmingham City Council, London Borough of Havering and Nottinghamshire County Council.
The release of funding comes as the second step in the government’s three-year plan which began in Summer 2018. The programme aims to halve childhood obesity by 2030. Furthermore, the programme wants to reduce the gap between obesity in children from the most and least deprived areas.
The programme comes after studies show that one in three children leaves primary school overweight. Furthermore, children from deprived areas are more than twice as likely to leave primary school as obese.
The chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, Councillor Ian Hudspeth explains; “No child should be at a disadvantage in life because of where they are from, and this programme aims to support councils to reduce this gap, with a view to preventing children from becoming obese in the first place and able to live healthy and fulfilling lives.”
Public Health Minister, Steve Brine adds; “Our Trailblazer programme will support the 13 councils to bring their ideas to life with the help of dedicated support and guidance. They have the potential to not only improve the health of children in their own communities but across the country by helping us to shape future policy on childhood obesity.”
You can find out more about the Trailblazer programme here.
