John Curran
Question:476. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Health his plans to address an issue (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48320/18]
View answerTuesday, 20 November 2018
Questions (476)
Written answers
The issue that the Deputy has raised is being addressed in the context of the national Obesity Policy and Action Plan being implemented by my Department.
A 'Healthy Weight for Ireland’, the Obesity Policy and Action Plan (OPAP), was launched in September 2016 under the auspices of the Healthy Ireland agenda.
This Policy, which takes a ‘whole system’ approach, and covers a ten-year period up to 2025, was developed with a high degree of consultation, including with children and young people.
Childhood obesity is a key priority under the Policy, as is reducing the inequalities we see in obesity rates, where children (and adults) from lower socioeconomic groups have higher levels of obesity.
The Department of Health has established an Obesity Policy Implementation Oversight Group, comprising of officials from a range of other Departments as well as key academic and health agency representation. It is comprised of representatives from the following Departments and Agencies: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Department of Children and Youth Affairs; Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection; Department of Education and Skills; Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government; University College Cork; the Food Safety Authority of Ireland; the Health Service Executive (HSE) - including the National Clinical Lead for Obesity; and Safefood.
Sub-groups on Reformulation and on Healthy Eating have been established as initial priority areas for action. Work has commenced on a Roadmap for Reformulation of foods and drinks to reduce sugar and fat content.
In addition, a voluntary code of practice for food and beverages promotion, marketing and sponsorship has also been developed involving representatives from the food industry, advertising sector, statutory agencies, and various Government Departments. This Code was published in February and work is underway to operationalise it.
A Sugar-Sweetened Drinks Tax commenced on the 1st of May this year.
New Healthy Eating Guidelines and Food Pyramid resources have been published, and widely disseminated, including to all primary and post-primary schools. In addition, new Nutrition Standards for the School Meals Scheme have been introduced.
Work has commenced on developing Healthy Eating Guidelines for the 1-5 year old age group, which will be a valuable resource for parents and carers in the future. In the HSE the Healthy Eating Active Living programme is supporting work in the education sector, as well as with parents, families and communities in delivering a more co-ordinated approach to prevention and early intervention in child obesity.
This includes a five-year communications campaign, called START, which is being delivered in collaboration with the HSE and Safefood, with a focus on supporting parents make healthy choices around food and activity
A HSE national Clinical Lead for Obesity was appointed in 2017. Health assessments (including weight checks) were introduced in the GP under-6s contract. The HSE is also implementing a national Breastfeeding Action Plan which is very important and relevant to this topic.
Finally, under the broader Healthy Ireland agenda, a number of other major initiatives support the Obesity Policy:
- The National Physical Activity Plan is one of the key developments arising from Healthy Ireland, and implementation of that Plan is well underway in collaboration with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and a range of other stakeholders.
- The Healthy Ireland 2018 Communications campaign aims to encourage people to make a small, healthy change under three themes – Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Mental Wellbeing, and we are working with a range of national and local partners to deliver a range of communications and citizen engagement activities.
- The Healthy Ireland Fund, which was initiated in 2017 has supported a range of actions at both national and local level, many of which are targeted at children and which aim to support the Obesity Policy and the Physical Activity Plan.