Agenda item

To provide an update on the progress made since the Council signed up to the Local Declaration on Healthy Weight in 2016.

Dr Arif Rajpura, Director of Public Health introduced the item on Healthy Weight highlighting that the report had been produced collaboratively with colleagues from Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust and Blackpool Council’s Leisure Services. In order to achieve an impact on weight it was imperative that services worked together.

It was reported that Blackpool Council had become the first local authority to sign up to the Declaration on Healthy Weight in 2016. The number of reception aged children overweight or obese had continued to rise, however, a small decrease had been achieved in the number of Year 6 pupils who were overweight or obese. Numbers of obese adults continued to increase. Ms Nicky Dennison, Senior Public Health Practitioner, added that the work ongoing in Blackpool was being recognised nationally and had received a number of accolades.

The Committee noted that there were a large number of schemes and projects in place to target healthy weight and queried how the impact of each scheme was measured. Dr Rajpura advised that each scheme had a set of performance indicators to manage performance and were evaluated to determine if value for money was being achieved. It was reported that healthy weight was sometimes not the primary aim of a project, but could be a secondary benefit such as GULP, the project to reduce the level of sugary drinks consumed by young people with the primary aim of improving dental care. It was further noted that many projects were being considered as long term and instant results were not expected.

Ms Jeannie Harrop, Head of Primary and Community Care Design, Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group reported that healthy weight featured prominently in the new NHS 10 year plan and that the focus of service provision had reacted to new understanding of reasons of obesity.

Members noted the proposals in the new Local Plan to limit the number of new fast food outlets, but also recognised that supermarkets offering deals on unhealthy food and the number of existing outlets also needed to be addressed. It was considered that the inclusion in the local plan would provide an evidence base for refusing applications and make an appeal more difficult. Ms Dennison advised that once a premises had been granted planning consent it could not currently be revoked and that she was petitioning nationally to bring about a legislative change that would allow for revocation.

In response to questions, Ms Lisa Arnold, Leisure Services Manager advised that the project ‘Man v Fat’ was a very specific challenge funded by Sport England. The first 16 weeks were free to participants and they could choose to continue to participate and self-fund for subsequent 16 week periods. She reported that the initial signs of the scheme appeared to be successful and that participants often chose to pursue other activities following completion of the man v fat challenge.

The Committee discussed the weighing of children in schools and the letters sent out to parents of children who had been measured to be overweight or obese. Concern was raised that the letters had a negative effect on parents and did not communicate the issues in the correct manner. The Committee requested that attendees at the meeting give consideration to the process and the wording of the letters sent and report back to the Committee at its next meeting with a new draft of the letter.

Members went on to consider the information provided on the number of patients receiving bariatric surgery, noting the low number. In response, Ms Jeannie Hayhurst, Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group advised that bariatric surgery was a complex and serious procedure and was a last resort. The low number of patients having the surgery demonstrated that other, less invasive interventions had been successful.

The Chairman concluded the item by highlighting the significant level of work ongoing around heathy weight and the importance of the topic in Blackpool. The Committee agreed to add an in depth review of healthy weight to the workplan for the new Municipal Year.

The Committee agreed:

1.      That attendees at the meeting give consideration to the process and the wording of the letters sent and report back to the Committee at its next meeting with a new draft of the letter.

2.      To add an in depth review of health weight to the Committee’s workplan for the new Municipal Year.