Venue: Conference Room 3 - Civic Centre. View directions
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4. |
Apologies and Changes in Panel Membership (If Any)
To note any changes
in membership of the Panel made in accordance with Council
Procedure Rule 4.3.
Minutes:
The apologies of Councillor T Thomas and
Councillor Vaughan were noted.
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5. |
Minutes of the Previous Meeting (including matters arising)  PDF 330 KB
To approve and sign
as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 29 October
2019 and to deal with any matters arising.
Minutes:
RESOLVED that the minutes of
the meeting held on 29 October 2019 be approved and signed as a
correct record.
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6. |
Understanding Local Environmental Influences on Childhood Obesity - The Food Environment PDF 308 KB
Report of the Director, Legal and Governance
requesting that the Panel consider the comments made by the invited
guests and use the information provided as evidence in the
review.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Panel considered the report of the
Director, Legal and Governance requesting that the Panel consider
the comments made by the invited guests and use the information
provided as evidence in the review.
Following discussion with invited
representatives the following information was received:
The role of public policy in healthy food
environments – Professor Corinna Hawkes,
Director of the Centre for Food Policy, City, University of
London
·
A presentation was delivered by Professor
Corinna Hawkes providing an overview of the role of public policy
in creating healthy food environments.
·
Key points raised in the presentation
included the following:
- A healthy food environment is one
that looks like the food we should be eating, with the onus on
available, affordable, appealing and acceptable healthy food and
drinks.
- National policy can change
environments to support norms resulting in change for people &
businesses.
- 6 key food environment policy areas
(within Nourishing framework). Policy
initiatives within Chapters 1-3 of the Childhood Obesity Plan seek
to improve the food policy environment around labelling, public
institutions, fiscal tools, marketing and food supply.
- Some initiatives have a greater
impact in practice than others – eg: Improve food offer in schools may be undermined
by food environment outside schools and at home, whereas the Soft
Drinks Industry Levy has been effective (mandatory more effective
than voluntary initiatives).
- Initiatives regarding food retailing
and neighbourhood policies are missing at the national level
– Role for local and national government around neighbourhood
planning and infrastructure, supporting alternative food
provisioning models and inside store environments eg - The Healthier Catering Commitment for London
– www.healthiercateringcommitment.co.uk
- Any approach needs to take into
account people’s lived experience of food environments and
understanding how people respond to policy changes – Need to
develop approaches that meet local needs from a child’s
perspective.
- Parents trying to cope with the
reality of their lives are not bad parents.
- Often children are not exposed to
healthy food at home so when they see fruit and veg at early years
or school settings they resist. This
increases health inequalities. Training
children’s taste preferences can help to make healthy foods
more appealing (initiatives such as TasteEd https://www.tasteeducation.com
based on the Sapere method that
teachers are trained to deliver).
Relevant for SCC’s Feed the Future initiative to provide free
fruit, vegetables and yoghurt to school children up to the age of
11 years.
- National policy requires food skills
(food tech) to be taught in secondary schools. It doesn’t
begin in early years or primary schools.
- Build upon existing community assets
and actions – Improve existing initiatives and prioritise
approaches as recommended by Public Health England’s Whole
Systems Approach.
- In summary - A small number of
national policies needed for norms to change for people and
businesses.
- Policies that work for people start
with understanding the context – the reality of
people’s lives.
- Local government can both complement
& lead national policy by building on assets with actions
tailored to their populations.
Understanding local
environmental influences on childhood obesity – Professor
Janis ...
view the full minutes text for item 6.
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