Justin Tomlinson MP at a MEND Parliamentary event,
representing over 20,000 families who have benefitted from the healthy lifestyle club.
With one in three children overweight and 85% of those going on to be obese in adulthood, Justin Tomlinson MP today spoke about the steps we can take to tackle obesity in children in a Parliamentary debate on obesity. Speaking in the Wetminster Hall debate Justin focused on four main topics: planning, food, sport and youth provision.
"Open and accessible spaces are very important. As a former local councillor, I was also the lead council member for leisure. People always said to me, “The emphasis is on creating lots of really good leisure centres.” The reality is that youngsters go to leisure centres only once or twice a year—normally for somebody’s birthday party. It is the jumpers-for-goalposts mentality that matters. It is really important that we build in to developments usable and accessible open space." Justin praised Swindon Borough Council for investing millions of pounds in local open spaces.
Justin went on to discuss the importance of educating children and their parents in healthy balanced eating, drawing on Haydonleigh Primary School in Swindon as a perfect example of cookery in schools.
"In Haydonleigh’s cookery sessions, the parents or grandparents of children were invited to come in, so that they were cooking with the children, who would then take their skills back home. However, there was also an allotment at the school, so the children got to see the full cycle: they planted the seeds; they grew the vegetables; they cooked in school with their parents or grandparents; and they went home and carried on cooking."
Justin concluded by proposing a radical solution to the problem of childhood obesity and getting children to be outside and active.
"I think that the youth service and the leisure service in local authorities should be merged to become one service. The chief officer within those areas should be one person and they should not employ armies of youth officers with very expensive youth clubs attended by only a handful of children, where they do things that we may have liked doing when we were younger but which, I can assure hon. Members, these days kids are not particularly switched on by. Instead, we should open up schools, community centres and leisure centres. We would pay for football coaches, street dance instructors and so on, and say, “Right, it is 50p. You come along and for the next two hours you’re in a constructive environment, and you’re doing something that is active.”
"That is not just some pie-in-the-sky thing. In Swindon, we have the ice-skating disco on a Friday night for teenagers and 600 kids chase around the ice after whoever they think is particularly good-looking. They are being very active for a couple of hours; they are off the streets; and the youth service could and should be parking its mobile facility outside. Those young children who need the traditional youth service, from which they can get advice and seek help, will find that that is available. For all of the others who might have been put off going to the youth club, because that was the only thing that was available, there is the enjoyable activity of ice-skating. I am very keen to push such projects and we could judge their success by the number of children who are engaged by them."
You can read the full speech here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2011-11-09a.106.1&s=justin+tomlinson+segment%3A21662872 g111.0
Watch Justin's speech here: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=9280&st=14:55:20