Scales not budging on child obesity problem
The public health team in North Northants say childhood obesity is a priority, but only spent £35,000 on solutions in the most recent financial year
By Sarah Ward
A senior officer at North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has asked the director of public health ‘what more do we need to do’ to lower child obesity.
The numbers of children overweight when going into primary school and when leaving primary education is increasing in the North of the county and at this week’s health and wellbeing board David Watts, who is head of adult social services at NNC, put the director of public health (DPH) Jane Bethea on the spot about the lack of progress.
In 2021-22 22 per cent of four and five year olds were overweight but this rose to 23.4 percent in the most recently reported figures for 2023/24.
Just under 37 per cent of Year 6 children in the area are over weight which is slightly above the national average.
David Watts said a number of issues were ‘stuck’ and asked Jane Bethea what more the health and wellbeing board could do to help tackle the issue.
He said:
“This feels like a universal issue. So what can we do …