Children's health and food

London’s Child Obesity Taskforce

We're part of the Taskforce established by the Mayor of London, supporting every child to achieve a healthy weight

Key partnership information

Partners: Public Health England (PHE), the Association of Directors of Public Health London (ADPH London) and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services London (ADCS London)

Programme: Children’s health and food

What we’re doing together

London’s Child Obesity Taskforce is an initiative driven by the Greater London Authority (GLA) in collaboration with Public Health England (PHE) and the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH). We are lead partner in the Taskforce, contributing strategic support and funding.

The Taskforce is taking an action-focused approach to address the factors that create obesogenic environments (those that encourage obesity). It will work in collaboration with others to ensure decisions and recommendations for action are impactful and addresses issues raised in the Mayor’s Health Inequalities Strategy.

The Taskforce was announced in March 2018, with Paul Lindley as its Chair and Corinna Hawkes as Vice Chair.

Making schools healthier in London

2,100

schools have signed up for the Healthy School London programme

492

primary schools are implementing the Daily Mile

12

boroughs are running Sugar Smart campaigns involving schools

Aims of the partnership

The Taskforce aims to create a culture of dispersed leadership around the issue of childhood obesity, inspiring all Londoners to take responsibility and accountability for leadership on this issue, so that every London child has every opportunity to enjoy a healthy weight. By co-creating an action plan with children and young people – ensuring the reality of their lives is central to its themes – the Taskforce will realise its ambition through:

Creating a brave and radical plan that will offer actions to significantly reduce child obesity across the city
Focusing in on the unfairness in prevalence of childhood obesity in poorer communities
Taking a whole-systems approach to solutions

The Taskforce’s aspiration is that, by 2030, there will be a radical difference to how we all live – having fundamentally shifted our norms, values and attitudes to diet, activity and weight from what they were at the start of the Taskforce’s work.

The Taskforce has committed that by 2030, the percentage of London’s children who are overweight at the start of primary school and obese at the end of primary school will be halved, and we will also see a reduction in the gap in childhood obesity rates between the richest and poorest areas in London.

Connection to our strategy

The main goal of our children’s health and food programme is to reduce the inequality gap in rates of childhood obesity, by bringing the high rates of childhood obesity in neighbourhoods with the lowest incomes down to the level of the more affluent ones.

Through the Taskforce, we can leverage London-wide influence to make changes in the environments where children eat, play and live.

More about London's Child Obesity Taskforce

The Taskforce was established to bring about a transformation in London so that every child has every chance to grow up eating healthily, drinking plenty of water and being physically active. Find out more about the Taskforce's work.

Visit the Taskforce site

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