Healthy Food for All
Overweight and obesity affects 27% of reception age children, rising to nearly 37% in year six, and affects 66% of adults in Cumberland . It increases the risk of a range of physical health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal problems, perinatal complications, some cancers, and COVID-19. Cumberland Council believes that good food is a right, not a privilege, and everyone should have access to nutritious food. This workstream aims to improve access to food, tackling food poverty and promoting healthy eating and supports the Right to Food Motion.
Access to food
Initially, causes and drivers of food insecurity across Cumberland will be identified. A Cumberland-wide multi-agency Food Poverty Alliance will be established, promoting networking, grant and collaboration opportunities, to ensure the areas in greatest need get the most support. The Alliance will help to train health professionals and care workers to recognise food poverty issues and signpost those they support.
A key focus of this area of work is ensuring residents retain dignity and have choices. Emphasis will be placed on maximising household income, with “cash first” approaches where appropriate. Fair wages will be promoted through commitments such as the Real Living Wage Campaign, and the Council will play a role in encouraging partners and local businesses to sign up. The outcomes will include increased food security and improved support pathways, whilst ensuring dignity in choice.
The Partnership will help community food organisations to develop their procurement networks, to ensure the provision of nutritious, affordable, and culturally appropriate food. Opportunities within the local supply chain will be assessed, as well as links with local growers, as mechanisms to support this.
Housing
Access to facilities to prepare and cook food is a fundamental aspect of the Right to Food. The quality of housing provision should be sufficiently high to ensure the health and wellbeing of its residents. The Partnership will work with social and private landlords to ensure housing provisions have adequate cooking facilities and residents are provided with energy efficient equipment. Where possible, the Partnership will work with social landlords to provide communal growing spaces for residents.
School food auto-enrolment and access to HAF
School meal provision is another opportunity to increase consumption of healthy food. By operating an auto-enrolment scheme for free school meals, every eligible child will have access to nutritious food, and schools will receive a higher proportion of pupil premium. Research undertaken also shows that more than half of schools receive insufficient Government funding to cover the cost of Free School Meals, and many are subsidising this from other budgets . Work will be undertaken via the School Food Group to support schools with this, whilst ensuring meals meet the government school food standards as a minimum. Governors will be provided with training to support the development of healthy food options and ensure schools are fulfilling their obligations. Schools will also be supported to expand educational opportunities with respect to food. Long term, Cumberland Council aims to provide free school meals for every child; options for expanding the free school meals offer will be evaluated before a wider roll out.
Breakfast and 4 O’clock Clubs should be supported to target children who might not otherwise have access to nutritious meals. 4 O’clock Clubs are warm and safe places for young people particularly during the colder months. They are places in the community that give young people a welcome, a warm space, warm food and drinks and access to free Wi-Fi. Clubs can be held in a wide range of spaces, such as community centres, village halls, libraries and other buildings that can welcome young people to meet, eat, be warm, be able to do their homework if they wish and to chat.
Out with term time, the Holiday Activity and Food programme (HAF) provides children on free school meals with activities and healthy meals. The Partnership will work with the HAF Officer and providers to support continued development of projects, ensuring nutritious food is available and food related activities are offered. A “good food” guideline and support materials will be developed to make it easy for providers to understand how to meet criteria and procure nutritious food, as well as providing culturally diverse food. The Partnership will support food growing initiatives at HAF venues and will garner support from local businesses to increase the available offering. As a result of the auto- enrolment for free school meals, HAF funding will be increased by Central Government, allowing more children to access the programme.
Promotion of healthy food
An extensive range of healthy eating and weight support services will be offered to all, including dietary and nutritional advice, cookery skill development, and exercise programmes. Social prescribing will play a key role in further supporting communities to support general health and wellbeing. Social food provisions will be further supported to encourage adults to eat healthier and will link in to other initiatives (Meals on Wheels, Lunch Clubs etc).
Commitments to the Healthy Weight Declaration will be reiterated across all Council departments to reduce unhealthy weight, protect the health and wellbeing of staff and citizens, and make an economic impact on health and social care and the local economy.
Promotion of Healthy Start is key to support low-income households and provide children with good nutrition from the outset.
The Young Health Champions initiative will promote health and wellbeing to young people. Engagement regarding nutrition and healthy food from a young age aims to reduce health concerns in later life.
Links between nutrition and exercise will be encouraged through engagement with youth sports teams.
Vending machines at sports venues, both those operated on behalf of the Council and others, will be inspected to ensure healthy options are available.
Schools and community establishments will be encouraged to engage with the Food for Life awards programme, further developing the ethos of healthy, sustainable, and tasty food.
Furthermore, the Council will relaunch the Healthy Choices Awards across Cumberland for catering establishments.