Day: July 6, 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Today in detailed discussions the Cabinet has agreed our collective position for the future of our negotiations with the EU.

Our proposal will create a UK – EU free trade area which establishes a common rule book for industrial goods and agricultural products. This maintains high standards in these areas, but we will also ensure that no new changes in the future take place without the approval of our Parliament.

As a result, we avoid friction in terms of trade, which protects jobs and livelihoods, as well as meeting our commitments in Northern Ireland.

We have also agreed a new business-friendly customs model with freedom to strike new trade deals around the world.

Next week we will be publishing a white paper which will set out more details of how we will be taking back control of our money, laws and borders.

Now we must all move at pace to negotiate our proposal with the EU to deliver the prosperous and secure future all our people deserve.

The NHS’s upcoming 10-year plan will only succeed if it has local government’s expertise and a golden thread of preventing poor health running through it, Public Health England’s (PHE) Chief Executive Duncan Selbie has told the Local Government Association (LGA) conference this week. As an example of this, he highlighted a new approach to preventing and tackling obesity which is being piloted by PHE.

The new 5-year funding settlement will see the NHS receive increased funding of £20.5 billion in real terms per year by the end of the 5 years compared to today – an average 3.4% per year overall. The Prime Minister has spoken of the need to improve social care and to support prevention and public health in the new NHS plan, a view echoed by Duncan Selbie.

Duncan Selbie said:

The NHS 10-year plan is a huge opportunity, but it will be judged by how it prioritises prevention. We must of course treat illness but even smarter would be to prevent it. With 40% of all poor health being preventable and 60% of 60 year olds experiencing at least one long term condition this has to be a no brainer.

Keeping people well for longer and helping them to stay in their own homes for longer must be the primary objective. Local government has huge expertise and know how to bring to this.

Mr Selbie was speaking at a meeting on enabling healthy communities, which considered ill health’s effects on the economy and the workforce. The economic case for prevention is well established; illness among working age people costs the UK economy £100 billion a year and about 330,000 people every year become unemployed because of health-related issues.

The burden preventable illness puts on public services is also clear. Obesity-related ill health costs the NHS around £6 billion per year, while the impact of obesity on local authority social care budgets is estimated at £350 million per year.

PHE is piloting a whole systems approach to obesity programme, which supports local authorities in tackling obesity through joined-up local action including all departments within the local authority, NHS Trusts, local businesses and voluntary and community organisations. Developed in partnership with the LGA and Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH), it is rooted in the principle that no single individual, group or organisation can tackle obesity alone and that everyone has a part to play.

Leeds Beckett University is supporting 11 pilot local authorities to co-develop resources that will be available for all local authorities, in spring 2019.

On tackling obesity, Duncan Selbie said:

Reversing this epidemic is possible, provided everyone pulls together. No other country in the world is tackling this in such a comprehensive way.

Background

PHE will invite expressions of interest from local authorities to test and provide feedback on the draft guide. This has been co-developed by local authorities, for local authorities, so their input will be invaluable in shaping this innovative piece of work. Local authorities will be sent the draft guide in September for feedback, and then the whole systems approach will be peer reviewed by systems experts before it is made available nationally in spring 2019.

The LGA published a briefing for elected members on the whole systems approach to obesity in December 2017.

References:

The cost of obesity related ill-health to the NHS: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21562029 (The direct cost to the NHS in 2006 to 2007 of people being overweight and obese was £5.1 billion. These costs have been uprated to £6.1 billion to take into account inflation.)

The impact of obesity on local authority social care budgets: www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/15.6%20Obesity-05.pdf (Unpublished analysis of Health Survey for England combined data 2011 and 2012. Obesity Knowledge and Intelligence. PHE 2014. Cost of extra formal hours of help for severely obese compared to healthy weight people.)

Visits to city parks and green spaces in England were up by 25 per cent in 2016 as compared to 2010, new research published today (Friday, 6 July) by Natural England has revealed.

Natural England’s Urban Greenspaces report also found that more people are visiting the natural environment within towns and cities across England than ever before with an estimated 879 million visits to parks in towns and cities in 2015/16.

The report brings together findings from Natural England’s annual ‘Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment’ (MENE) public survey and explores how people living in urban areas engage with the natural environment and visit urban greenspaces.

The government’s 25 Year Environment Plan aims to connect more people with the environment by creating more green infrastructure in towns and cities, helping people improve their health and wellbeing by using green spaces and encouraging children to be close to nature, with particular focus on disadvantaged areas.

Data from March 2009 to February 2016 was analysed, and showed:

• Urban Greenspaces are increasingly utilised with an estimated 1.46 billion visits in 2015/16 compared with 1.16 billion visits in 2009/10
• 93 per cent of the urban population claimed to have taken visits to the natural environment for recreation in the last 12 months
• There has been a decrease in the use of cars and vans to reach urban greenspaces between 2010 and 2016 with around seven in ten visits taken on foot in 2015/16
• Public parks, recreation grounds and other greenspaces were the most common places visited within towns and cities (47 per cent, 9 per cent and 14 per cent of all visits respectively), but people also reported visiting urban woodlands (5 per cent), rivers and canals (7 per cent)
• For some urban residents visits to the natural environment may be the only opportunity to exercise

Principle Specialist for People and the Environment at Natural England, Rose O’Neill, said:

The MENE survey gives us a valuable insight into how people enjoy the great outdoors.

We know that lots of us love a visit to our local park or favourite green spot and it is great to see this is on the rise. Research has shown a clear and important link between urban greenspaces and mental health which underlines the important role the natural environment can have in all of our lives.

The MENE survey is funded by Natural England, with support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

It was first commissioned in 2009 and has provided a wealth of evidence relating to outdoor recreation, behaviour and attitudes. With 81 per cent of England’s population reported as living in urban areas in 2015/16, this data provides a valuable insight into how people use and relate to the natural environment.

Natural England uses the research to understand how people use, enjoy and are motivated to protect the natural environment and to help monitor changes in use of the natural environment over time.

Across all seven years of the MENE survey, four in 10 urban residents (40 per cent) had taken at least one visit to the natural environment in the seven days prior to being interviewed

It also found that some people are more likely to visit urban greenspaces, than other natural places further afield, including:

• Those aged 16-34
• Those in the black and minority ethnic population
• Those who don’t have access to a car
• People with children