Ms Kate O'Flaherty:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to present to it on this important topic, which is a major public health priority. The committee will be aware of the Government’s national obesity policy and action plan, which was launched in 2016 under the auspices of the Healthy Ireland agenda. The policy, which takes a whole-system approach and covers a ten-year period up to 2025 was developed with a high degree of consultation, including, as Dr. Brooks mentioned, with children and young people. Childhood obesity is a key priority under the obesity policy, as is reducing the inequalities we see in obesity rates, where children and adults from lower socioeconomic groups have higher levels of obesity than those in better off groups in society.

While recent data suggest there may be a stabilisation in the increasing levels of overweight and obesity in children and adults, and any positive direction in the trends is welcome, there is no room for complacency.

Being a healthy weight is no longer the norm in our adult population and the obesity policy seeks to drive a society-wide change in norms around healthy lifestyles and healthy environments to prevent a significant range of health complications that come with obesity, and to reduce the overall burden for individuals, families, the health system and the wider society and economy.

I will concentrate on reporting to the committee some of the early progress and priorities in implementing the obesity policy. As with all our work under Healthy Ireland, cross-departmental and cross-sectoral co-operation is fundamental to our approach to implementation. This involves in particular working with the other two Government Departments, representatives of which are here today, and also with the Department of Rural and Community Development, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, as well as local authorities, the health services, the education sector and, increasingly and most important, engaging with citizens and communities across the country.

The Department of Health has established an obesity policy implementation oversight group comprising officials from a range of other Departments as well as key academic and health agency representation. Sub-groups on reformulation of food and drink and on healthy eating have been established as initial priority areas for action. Work has commenced on a roadmap for reformulation of foods and drinks to reduce their sugar and fat content and engagement with the food and retail industry is and will be a key factor in delivering on that.

In addition, a voluntary code of practice for food and beverage promotion, marketing and sponsorship has been developed involving representatives from the food industry, advertising sector, statutory agencies and various Government Departments. The code was published in February and work is under way to operationalise it.

The committee will be aware that a sugar-sweetened drinks tax commenced on 1 May 2018 and work is under way between the Department of Health and the Department of Finance on the evaluation framework for that measure.

New healthy eating guidelines and food pyramid resources for the population from age five upwards have been published and widely disseminated, and continue to be disseminated, including to all primary and post-primary schools.

The three Departments represented here, along with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, developed new nutrition standards for the school meals scheme that are being implemented. Work has commenced on developing healthy eating guidelines for the one to five year old age group, which will be a valuable resource for parents, carers and the early years sector in the coming years in terms of nutrition.

In the HSE, the Healthy Eating, Active Living programme is supporting work in the education sector as well as with parents, families and communities in delivering a more co-ordinated approach to prevention and early intervention in child obesity. This includes a five-year communications campaign called START, which is being delivered in collaboration with the HSE and safefood with a focus on supporting parents to make healthy choices around food and activity. The committee might be aware that we launched the next phase of the campaign, which is around screen time, yesterday. A first clinical lead for obesity, Professor Donal O'Shea, was appointed in 2017. Health assessments, including weight and height checks, were introduced in the GP under sixes contract. The HSE is also implementing a national breastfeeding action plan, which is very important and relevant in terms of the prevention of child obesity.

Under the broader Healthy Ireland agenda, a number of other major initiatives support the obesity policy. The national physical activity plan is one of the key developments arising from Healthy Ireland, and implementation of that plan is well under way in collaboration with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and a range of other stakeholders, including the two Departments represented here today. The Healthy Ireland 2018 communications campaign aims to encourage people to make a small, healthy change under three themes, healthy eating, physical activity and mental well-being, which are all very relevant to obesity prevention. We are working with a range of national and local partners to deliver a range of communications and citizen engagement activities. The Healthy Ireland fund, which was initiated in 2017, has supported a range of actions at both national and local level, many of which are targeted at children and which aim to support the obesity policy and the physical activity plan. A very important and innovative strand of that has been co-funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in terms of providing funding to the children and young persons' services committees to help deliver activity at local level.

I am pleased to advise the committee that in July, the Government agreed to establish a Healthy Ireland office in the Department of Health to build on the progress to date and to strengthen further cross-Government collaboration on the implementation of Healthy Ireland. This development will bolster our collective efforts to implement key policies, including the obesity policy, that are all aimed at improving the health and well-being of our population. I hope the members find this brief update useful. We would be pleased to answer any questions that they may have.