MD2222 London’s Childhood Obesity Taskforce

As part of Better Health for London, London’s draft Health Inequalities Strategy, the Mayor is seeking to tackle health inequalities across the City by tackling childhood obesity. The Mayor will take a leading and convening role in reducing childhood obesity across the city. The Mayor’s policy response will be to set-up London’s Childhood Obesity Taskforce in partnership with a number of key stakeholders, including Guy’s St Thomas’s Charity (GSTC).

The Taskforce aims to deliver an overall reduction in childhood obesity – specifically reducing the inequalities that exist between the richest and poorest communities in London. London’s children experience the worst rates for excess weight in the country, with 38% of children overweight or obese by the time they reach secondary school. The proportion of obese children in year six ranges from 3.7% in an parts of Richmond to 35.2% in parts of Waltham Forest, reflecting the national fluctuation in England the (0% and 38.8%).

Within London, Barking and Dagenham, Newham and Southwark had the highest number of areas with a significantly higher percentage of obese children in year six than the rest of England, with only three London boroughs (City of London, Kingston and Richmond) with significantly lower rates of obese children in year six compared to the rest of England.

The Taskforce will seek to take a pan-London approach to driving well-established solutions at pace and scale, lobbying partners inside and outside London, all whilst being a conduit for testing innovative approaches and connecting key change-makers together, both in London, nationally and internationally.

The activity of the Taskforce is likely to be focused on four key areas of delivery:

Early Years: examples of programme activity include supporting parents through their first 1000 days and supporting mothers to initiate and sustain breastfeeding; the Mayor’s new Healthy Early Years London programme

Food environment: examples of programme activity include a retail focused approached to developing a healthy food environment, ensuring London’s demand for health, convenient and accessible food can be met. testing out whole systems approach to the food environment; implementing relevant aspects of London’s Health and Care Devolution

Physical activity: examples of programme activity include supporting TfL’s 2 x 10mins per day target; increasing physical activity in schools through the Mayor’s Healthy Schools London programme

International and innovation: tie together activity across London, ensuring activity is co-ordinated and focused on reducing inequality; celebrating success and highlighting impact across London; testing out whole-system approaches across two boroughs and creating an effective international peer support network with other cities such as Amsterdam and New York.

Outcomes from this Taskforce of activity are likely to be:

- Everyday decisions by business and public bodies supporting childhood obesity reduction
- Healthier food orders are routinely made by takeaway businesses for their customers
- Healthier ‘out-of-home’ is served as the norm to Londoners
- Public make healthier choices in how they move around the city and in how they eat
- Breastfeeding is normalised in social and public spaces

The impact of the outcomes from the Taskforce activity is likely to be:

- Reduce calorie consumption out of home and on high streets
- Reduction in the obesogenic environment
- Less unhealthy food choices in London’s food market
- With the headline impact that childhood obesity across London is reduced – and specifically the inequality that exists within it.

The signing of the MOU with GSTC, together with the GLA’s finance, will enable to Taskforce to exist, function professionally and discharge its duties effectively. The Taskforce and its staff will be hosted and employed by the GLA from its initial total budget of £270,000 between the financial years of 2018/19 and 2019/20. See attached MOU for further information.

The Taskforce is framed not only around reducing childhood obesity as a whole across the city but with a focus on closing the inequality within childhood obesity rates that exists.

Groups who the Taskforce would be looking to target include those from the most deprived backgrounds, where in London there is almost a 20% difference between most and least deprived children in year six. Particular places and spaces have been shown to induce the potential for children to become more overweight and obese than those children from other environments. For example, the boroughs with the highest rates include Barking & Dagenham, Southwark, Greenwich, Newham and Tower Hamlets. We can also see that in London, Black ethnicity groups have the highest proportion of excess weight whereas those from Asian, Indian and Chinese groups have lower prevalence. However, in terms of numbers of children, the largest groups in London with excess weight are Black African and white British children. Across all ethnicities boys have higher rates of being overweight and obese then girls.

Fundamental to the remit of the Taskforce will be to better understand what is driving inequality across these groups and continue to refocus activity across the city to reduce the gap between them.

The GLA has given due regard to its duty in respect of section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

1. Key risks and issues

Due to the consultation on Better Health for London: London’s draft Health Inequalities Strategy having only recently closed (30^th November) a risk register is in place and will continue to evolve. However, key risks and issues identified specifically with signing of this MOU include:

2. Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

There are a variety of ways the decisions in this DD links to strategies and priorities:

Manifesto commitment to tackle childhood obesity:

“I will be a Mayor who takes action to improve public health and tackle health inequalities in London. The current Mayor has neglected this crucial area, despite the spreading of diseases that we once thought were eradicated here such as…the alarming growth in childhood obesity. I won’t duck the difficult decisions necessary to improve the health of all Londoners.”

“Develop a comprehensive public health strategy, focused around the promotion of active lifestyles…and tackling childhood obesity, including through challenging the spread of fast food shops in areas close to schools.”

London’s Healthy Inequalities Strategy:

• In the Health Inequalities Strategy consultation, Londoners called on the Mayor to take action on childhood obesity more than any other issue.

• A key objective of the Health Inequalities Strategy (objective 5.1) is that “childhood obesity falls and there is a reduction in the gap between the boroughs with the highest and lowest rates of child obesity” It is also the key objective the Healthy Habits chapter.

• In the Health Inequalities Strategy the Mayor also personally committed to:

• “… show[ing] leadership on this issue by convening and leading Londonwide action to reduce child obesity.”

• “…investigate[ing] the introduction of a policy in the new London Plan which seeks to limit the development of new hot food takeaways around schools

• “…work[ing] with partners towards a reduction in childhood obesity rates and a reduction in the gap between the boroughs with the highest and lowest rates of child obesity.”

• “The Mayor will work in partnership across London to rollout the priorities of his new London Food Strategy.”

3. Impact assessments and consultations.

The Mayor’s role on taking a leading and convening role, including the concept of London’s Childhood Obesity Taskforce, has been extensively consulted on through the Better Health for London: London’s draft Health Inequalities Strategy consultation which closed on 30^th November 2017.

Executive Director’s approval is sought for the GLA to receive £90,000 from Guy’s St Thomas Charity (GSTC) and signing of the MOU between the GLA and GSTC. The income from GSTC will fund staffing and non-staffing costs associated with London’s Childhood Obesity Taskforce and the secretariat that supports it

The GLA’s contribution over two financial years is to be in the form of two officers from the Health Team; a part time grade 10 and a grade 7 (approved under MD2115). Additionally GLA expenditure of up to £16,000 is to be spent on non-pay costs of the Taskforce such as events, commissioning work, website development, which is to be funded from 2018-19 and 2019-20 Healthy Schools London budget within Communities and Intelligence Health Team.

Expenditure is expected to occur over two financial years; 2018-19 and 2019-20 and will total £270,000.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

The decisions requested of the director concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom;
• and consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, the director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Officers must ensure that they are content that the GLA can comply with any conditions to which the proposed GSTC funding is subject and in any event no reliance should be placed upon such funding until there is a legally binding commitment from GSTC to provide the same.

Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place before the commencement of any services in relation to the funding, particularly in relation all costs associated with running the Taskforce.