Agenda item

8.1  The chair invited officers Rosie Dalton-Lucas, Health and Wellbeing Manager and Jin Lim, Assistant Director Public Health consultant to present the report circulated with the papers. They noted that the committee made 55 recommendations and there is a detailed response to the committee's top 15.

8.2  The chair invited questions and a member commented that academies don’t have to follow national nutritional standards. The officer responded that the cabinet member has written to all the schools to request nicely that they do meet these standards, given the council is funding the Free Healthy School Meals scheme.

8.3  A member asked how much interaction there is with urban farms and the officers respond that although there are some links with schools, there were more opportunities that could be exploited by the council.

8.4  Members asked about the role of volunteers and take-up of the programmes mentioned, including Change 4 Life and the programme of targeted support facilitated by Bacons College to support 25 schools with high levels ofobesity. The officer confirmed that programmes always look for interaction and the involvement of volunteers. Officers reported that about 15 schools have registered, however others may have used materials provided as a resource.

8.5  Members asked about targeted work with obese children and officers reported that three fairs have been held for children who were very obese, with varying levels of success in engaging families. There is a list of 500 families who were contacted, 300 of whom were spoken with, and of these about 50 were engaged. The scheme gave vouchers for local stores which give discounts on healthy food. These proved very popular with parents.

8.6  The chair thanked officers for the report and asked them to return in a year.

RESOLVED

The committee will review implementation of the recommendations in a year.