Reactions to the public health white paper

---

The Public Health White Paper will end top-down central government initiatives to improve public health, instead local authorities will be given a leadership role, to plan co-ordinate and deliver local strategies.

ePolitix.com members respond to some of the measures announced in the white paper.

Member Response: Harry MacMillan, chief executive, MEND

With one in three children overweight and obese in the UK we're encouraged to see a commitment from government to improving public health and a recognition that a preventative approach will save both money and lives as well as ensuring the survival of the NHS.

Reducing health inequalities is vital if we are to create a fairer society, where every child is given a healthy start in life. MEND works effectively with families from right across the ‘social gradient' and we therefore welcome the commitment from government that funding will reach the communities that need it most.

We look forward to working with the Government to shape the forthcoming obesity specific strategy due to be published next year, that will set out how we can tackle the alarming obesity epidemic through innovative, localised and cost-effective solutions that are proven to work.

Member Response: Eye Health Alliance

The Eye Health Alliance is calling on all those involved in public health including the government, GP Consortia, health care professionals and especially Local Authorities with their new public health responsibilities to work together to ensure that everyone in their local community is aware of the importance of eye health and the need for regular sight tests and early diagnosis to reduce this public health time bomb.

Member Response: Betty McBride, director of policy and communications, British Heart Foundation

It's terrific news that the ban on tobacco vending machines will go ahead as planned next year. It shows the Government is truly committed to removing an easy source of cigarettes for children and young people.

The forthcoming Tobacco Control Strategy is now the perfect springboard to put tobacco completely out of sight and out of mind by removing tobacco displays.

We welcome the commitment to look at plain packaging for cigarettes but this must not become an alternative option to a display ban - we need both measures to protect children and young people from a lifetime of addiction and health problems.

We also applaud the pledge to tackle inequalities and improve the health of the poorest, fastest. It'd be great to share ideas with ministers about our successful Hearty Lives project, which helps tackle health inequalities across the UK.

Member Response: Andrew Opie, food director, British Retail Consortium

A less top-down approach that works constructively with food businesses and other organisations is sensible. Too often in the past every ill has been laid at the door of retailers. The new emphasis on personal responsibility and helping people to make healthier choices is welcome. This is exactly what retailers have been doing for years – reducing fat, sugar and salt, offering affordable, nutritious food, providing clear information and backing lifestyle campaigns.

Member Response: Sarah Smart, ceo,The PSHE Association

The PSHE Association welcomes the government's recognition of the place of PSHE education in the White Paper for improving health outcomes. The PSHE Association fully endorses the expectation that health and pastoral care should continue to be the hallmark of good schools and the connection made between pupils' physical and mental health, their safety, and their educational attainment.

The Association has always supported the important role of schools in actively promoting health in childhood and adolescence, recognising that healthy children with high self-esteem learn and behave better at school. The PSHE Association will continue to provide teachers, and practitioners with support in delivering age appropriate teaching on relationships and sexual health, substance misuse, diet, physical activity and some mental health issues.

The Association will be pleased to assist the Department for Education (DfE) in reviewing PSHE education, announced in the White Paper on Education The Importance of Teaching last week, in order to support schools in improving the quality of all PSHE teaching including giving teachers the flexibility to use their judgement about how best to deliver PSHE education.