To be presented by Tracy Stanley, Strategy and Policy Officer, Children and Culture.

5.50-6.20pm (30 minutes)

The Chair agreed with the Board to take the items ‘A Physical Activity and Sports Strategy’ and ‘Addressing Childhood Obesity’ together.

Katy Scammell (Associate Director of Public Health) and Lisa Pottinger (Head of Physical Activity and Sports Strategy) introduced the items. The Board then heard comments from a Teacher, Parent and the Deputy Young Mayor for Health and Wellbeing regarding barriers to better health.

Presenters emphasised that physical activity was important in the modern sedentary world, in the context of decreasing levels of physical activity.

Katy Scammell, Associate Director of Public Health, summarised her work on childhood obesity.

She said childhood obesity was a key area in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and for the first time rates of childhood obesity for reception aged children had decreased to match London wide levels. The Year 6 group, however, was still experiencing high rates of childhood obesity. She said Public Health had commissioned some community insight work to find the local perspective on what was working well and what was working less well. The result was the production of the logic models presented in the report.

The logic models were outcome based. They aimed for every child to be a healthy weight and for children to be engaged in healthy physical activity.

Three actions were identified to support the work:

1.     The first action considered what could be done at the environmental level. There were suggestions to improve the public realm and promote cycling.

2.     The second action considered making settings healthier at children’s centres and schools. This included healthier school meals.

3.     The third action was to find out whether services met people’s needs, whether they were joined up, if they were the right services and whether people knew about them.

The first phase of the Physical Activity Strategy consultation identified four key priorities. These included:

1. Driving health change and engaging with people in sport.
2. Shaping places and communities – making leisure centres more accessible, creating outdoor gyms and other healthy spaces.
3. Physical activity as a community engagement tool in order to improve health and reduce anti-social behaviour.
4. Developing young interest in sport activity to improve rates of childhood obesity.

Barriers to better health

Vivian Akinremi Deputy Young Mayor for Health and Wellbeing identified the following barriers to better health. She said:

• young people did not feel safe when using the parks and public spaces.
• there was a disparity in resources for sports activity between schools, this affected young people because they lacked the opportunity to compete.
• There was a lack of affordable healthy food in Tower Hamlets. Healthier food was expensive in comparison to fried chicken. There was also a link between unhealthy food and mental health such as comfort eating.
• There was a need for a counsellor in every school.

Martin Smith, PE Teacher Stepney Green Secondary School, was of the view that children were leaving secondary school less healthy than at the start. He identified the following as barriers to better health:

• Students were experiencing high academic pressure due to GCSE exams.
• The high number of fast food shops in the borough.
• Students had begun to opt to bring in unhealthy packed lunches rather than have a healthier school provided meal.
• Entry prices to leisure facilities in the borough were too expensive for the average school budget.

The Board heard the views of Tahmina Begum a local parent. She said:

·                    The sheer number of chicken shops had normalised consumption.

·                    Children were addicted to fast food and many of them saved their school lunch money to buy chicken after school.

·                    Some children missed lunch because of long lunch queues.

·                    Children sold unhealthy snacks at school during breaks.

·                    Parents were confused with the amount of health advice available.

·                    Some parents faced the challenge of having children who were ‘fussy eaters’ and found it difficult to say no to their children.

·                    Parents did not believe public spaces were safe.

·                    After school clubs had become overly competitive which alienated children who did not want to engage in competitive sports.

·                    School facilities should be opened to children during the school holidays because parents considered them to be safer than outside.

·                    The council should offer locks for bikes and more space to safely store bikes.

·                    Chicken boxes should include the calorific content. People might reduce consumption if they knew how many calories were in a serving.  The school could help educate children and parents regarding this.

·                    Academic pressure for Year 10 and Year 11 students impacted their wellbeing.

·                    Games consoles discouraged children from going outside to play.

Lisa Pottinger promoted the Tower Hamlets Summer Activity Programme. The Chair advised the programme should be promoted via BAME media to ensure more residents were made aware of the activities. Members were asked to obtain copies of the booklet from Lisa Pottinger.

The Board broke into groups to discuss the priorities for the Health and Wellbeing Strategy:

Comments from the Strategy group included:

1. The causes of poverty and deprivation needed to be addressed as well as the high levels of exam stress.
2. There was a suggestion to refresh the Olympic legacy to make better use of shared facilities.
3. It was noted that exercise initiatives to reduce obesity and reduce calorie intake were essential; though it was important to allow children to find an activity they enjoy, so they could leave school healthier.
4. There was a suggestion to appeal to those who own private leisure facilities to negotiate use by school groups.
5. There was a suggestion to provide children with step counters to motivate them.
6. There was a perception that leisure provision was far too expensive and membership schemes were overly complex in the borough. Lisa Pottinger explained that residents could get a ‘Pay and Play’ membership that cost approximately £5 a year and that there were women only swimming sessions for £1.50, in addition to other discounts. The issue was around communicating these incentives.
7. The Corporate Director for Children Services said that the Board would have an opportunity to comment on the leisure management contract re-procurement for 2022 in 2020/21.

Comments from the Childhood obesity group included:

• That the language around obesity should be reframed as it was associated with shame and stigma. There was a suggestion to organise a campaign around perceptions so people were comfortable to talk about how they felt about their weight, similar to the de-stigmatisation of mental health campaign.
• It was important for young people to learn cooking skills. This was something that could be co-produced with young people.
• A suggestion to link parks with family activity programmes to promote safety.
• More should be done to address holiday hunger and promote healthier food at school. Commissioning choices could play a role in this.
• There was a discussion around adolescent girls and reticence in engaging in physical sports activity. 

Officers said they would take forward the work. Both strategies were due to come back to the Board for sign off.  

The Chair thanked the speakers who shared their experiences.

RESOLVED:

1. To note the progress made on the Physical Activity and Sports Strategy.
2. To note the development of the Childhood Obesity Plan.