Responding to Concerns About Obesity in Children

There is widespread concern both locally and nationally about the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity with speculation that the current generation of children will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. This has been accompanied by significant media interest in the quality of school dinners, junk food, advertising etc. To begin to tackle the obesity epidemic there is a Public Service Agreement for "halting the year-on-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010 in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole". This is a joint target between the Department for Education and Skills, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Health (DoH).

Before we can respond effectively to this we must know what the current situation is like nationally and in Norfolk, and then monitor it. The Government has asked the DoH to lead on this work. In February 2006 the DoH issued guidance on assessing the prevalence of childhood obesity. This document, Measuring Childhood Obesity: Guidance to Primary Care Trusts was put together with the help of an expert advisory group. Research into children's attitudes to being weighed and measured, commissioned by the Children's Commissioner, was used to inform the guidance.

According to the national guidance, Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) should measure the height and weight of children in Year R and Year 6. These two measurements enable the calculation of body mass index (BMI) which gives a simple means of classifying a person as being either underweight, normal, overweight or obese. This data is vital because it will be used to:

Better understand the extent of the childhood obesity problem from both a local and a national perspective.

Better understand the important changes that have taken place over the last 20 years in the way that children grow and develop.

Unfortunately the timescale for this first survey is very short. It must be completed before the end of summer term, and the resources available in PCTs mean that it is impossible for PCT school nurse teams to survey every school. In fact the way the survey has to be done means that it will be difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about small schools and, in particular, rural schools. The PCTs in Norfolk are arranging to visit a number of schools in the near future and will have been in touch with those already. The PCTs may also be contacting all schools in their area with further information about the project; the West Norfolk PCT has already done this for schools in the West Norfolk area. Despite the potential shortcomings of this first survey we are keen to demonstrate the benefits of the Children's Services concept and so want to work with our PCT colleagues to get the best possible information from the survey. We are therefore asking schools to consider becoming directly involved.

Would you like to help us improve the survey?

We may be able to get over some of the survey's shortcomings if schools are prepared to volunteer to participate in the scheme by measuring and submitting height and weight data for their own YrR and Yr6 pupils. In return the NHS Primary Care Trust has committed to providing summary data for participating schools. We know that many schools that are already part of the Healthy Norfolk Schools Programme have a strong commitment to promoting health in partnership with parents. Gathering this data may help schools to target their activities based on evidence of need. (Contact Adele Godsmark for further information on 01603 307356).

For schools that choose to participate:

What We Will Do*	What We Ask You To Do
We will provide guidance on how to conduct the survey	Read and ensure you can meet the requirements of the guidance
Provide a letter to parents	Distribute it to the relevant parents
Provide you with guidance on appropriate measuring equipment	Access suitable scales and height measuring equipment
Provide you with the means of recording the data via Phoenix	Carry out the survey on all children in your school currently in Year R and/or Year 6. (If you have both year groups in your schools you can choose to survey both of just one of the year groups but both is preferred)
Provide the means by which you can return your data to us securely	Return your data electronically or by post
Provide you with summary data for your school and comparative national data	Use the data provided to inform your decision making and discussions in school

*All of the guidance is here.

The timescale is to complete all of the above by the end of this term 21 July 2006. We appreciate that this is a busy time of year to be doing this kind of work but the timescale has been set by the DoH and so there is no opportunity to make changes at this stage. Our hope is that we can collect useful data to inform our local planning this year and to refine the process for next year when we hope PCTs will be in a position to survey every eligible school in the county.

The full guidance for conducting the survey is here. Please check this first if you have any questions.

If your school would like to be involved please email alan.smith@norfolk.gov.uk by 12th June who will arrange for consent letters to be sent to you by return. If you have questions about the survey please e-mail or telephone me at ?01603 224455 or telephone Deborah Elliott at the NHS Norfolk Public Health Network on 01603 307291.