Agenda item

The Committee is asked to consider the final report of the in-depth review of healthy eating among children and young people in Medway and agree the findings and recommendations in order to refer them on to the Cabinet and NHS Medway’s Health Improvements Strategic Change Group.

Discussion:

The Chairman of the task group introduced the report highlighting the work carried out by Members and the visits that had been undertaken. He paid tribute and gave thanks to the hardwork and enthusiasm of officers working in the public health and wellbeing teams, together with the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinator for helping to co-ordinate and compile this review.   

The other Members of the task group added their own thanks to officers and commented on the tremendous efforts of Headteachers and catering staff in the schools they had visited which had been very encouraging, despite the difficulties in persuading parents that school meals were a good investment for their children’s health. It was obvious that parents thought they were saving money by providing a packed lunch when in actually fact the children were getting a much better balanced meal through the school especially as, in some cases, this was the only meal the child had throughout the day.

A Youth Parliament representative commended the report but advised that the key issues for him were the education of children and parents and the recommendation for a new planning policy to restrict fast food outlets from operating near to schools, parks and leisure centres.

The Labour group spokesperson advised that he thought the report had commendable aims but that there could be problems with implementation as it was only a month before the consideration of the Comprehensive Spending Review, which would undoubtedly have an effect on schools’ extended services. The Director responded that this was correct but that the report gave details of what was working and the recommendations were not unreasonable. It also highlighted where more could be done, especially with regard to free school meals. The council needed to make it easy for parents to know if they could obtain free meals for their children and to make it simple and accessible once they knew they could claim them.

Decision:

The Committee agreed the recommendations, as set out below:

1.         The Cabinet is recommended to agree that: -

(a)       the Contract Manager for school catering explore further options to provide low income families with information about free school meals and ask the Benefits Team if it is possible to include leaflets with this information when mailing out to claimants and for schools (headteachers in particular) to further encourage, where possible, families who qualify to take up the free school meals;

(b)       school meal caterers are encouraged to promote school meals such as providing tasting opportunities to encourage children to try food without wastage, promoting school meals in Medway town centres and attending parent evenings;

(c)        when new schools are developed in Medway the buildings are designed and built, where possible, to include dining room facilities to provide a relaxed environment for students to enjoy their lunchtimes;

(d)       schools are developed to include food technology facilities which can also be used for extra curricular activities after school for students and the whole community to help teach young people and families how to cook easy, healthy meals on a budget and that when new schools are built they are designed to encourage activities outside P.E. lessons and provide space for storing bicycles;

(e)       the Portfolio Holder for Children’s services write to the Government to request that they maintain the national Healthy Schools programme, explaining its benefits;

(f)         post the completion of current school reorganisations, all schools are encouraged to obtain healthy schools status, if the initiative is continued;

(g)       the Youth Service explore with Medway Youth Parliament the possibility of ‘healthy eating’ being the subject of a future MYP conference;

(h)        the Council investigate the possibility of developing a Supplementary Planning Document restricting fast food outlets from operating near schools, parks and leisure centres or at areas that are already highly concentrated with fast food outlets;

(i)         schools are encouraged to enforce stay on site policies at lunchtimes to help ensure young people are only buying food in school, which is restricted to nutritional standards;

(j)         the Council investigate the opportunity of adding a requirement for contributions to allotment provision, where appropriate, to the Developer Contribution Guide Supplementary Planning Document.

2.         NHS Medway’s Health Improvement Strategic Change Group is recommended to agree that: -

(a)            the Public Health Directorate work with Health Visitors and the Family Nurse Partnership to ensure they are referring and signposting to the breastfeeding peer support programme and Sure Start Centres which often provide sessions and support relating to breast feeding, weaning and healthy eating for young children;

(b)       the Public Health Directorate be encouraged to develop the allotment in Gillingham using the best practice identified at the Windmill Community Allotment Project in Thanet and that it be used, along with the produce grown there, for community cookery programmes and learning to grow your own.

3.         The Cabinet and the Health Improvement Strategic Change Group are recommended to agree that: -

(a)       the Public Health Directorate work with early years providers who are delivering healthy eating related sessions to children and their families, to ensure they are delivering the correct nutritional information;

(b)       the Healthy Schools Team and Public Health Directorate develop a more co-ordinated approach to working together with schools;

(c)        Social Regeneration and the Public health Directorate work together to help provide families with information and support on how to eat healthily, particularly on a low budget.  Some of this work should focus specifically to help young people to make informed healthy choices;

(d)       the Youth Service work the Public Health Directorate and in particular, ensure youth workers access the Healthy Weight Team for their expertise in ensuring they are providing accurate, coherent advice on healthy eating and healthy lifestyles;

(e)       the Public Health Directorate work with GPs in particular, but also leisure centres and schools, to be more proactive in either referring or signposting to public health services, such as MEND;

(f)         all of Medway’s leisure centres work more closely with Public Health, with particular focus on the following issues: -

(a)            to make better choices on the healthy options in vending machines (learning from ways in which this has been done in schools and hospitals) and in the cafes;

(b)            to offer and advertise free water;

(c)            to ensure leisure centres are able to sign-post children, young people and their families to public health services for advice on nutrition and healthy lifestyles;

(d)            to provide, where possible, space for Public Health Directorate to operate in leisure centres to give advice and guidance;

(g)       the Public Health Directorate are invited to participate in developing relevant and appropriate pages on the mixit website (http://www.medway.gov.uk/mixitindex.htm) to provide young people with further information and sign-posting about healthy eating and healthy lifestyles.