Child and Family Weight Management Services Grant

Increasing the provision of behavioural weight management services for children and families and enhancing the support and uptake by testing an extended brief intervention

 

 

REPORT TO:           Cllr Caroline Dickinson, Executive Member, Public Health

 

DECISION DATE:   22nd April 2021

 

SUPPORTING ANNEX:     Child and Family Weight Management Service Question and Answers. Evidence reviews.

 

 

PROPOSED RECOMMENDATION:

For the Executive Member, Public Health, in consultation with the relevant Corporate Director and the Corporate Director Strategic Resources, to approve the submission of an application to Public Health England for the Child and Family Weight Management Services Grant in 2021/22.

 

BACKGROUND TO SUPPORT THE RECOMMENDATION

Public Health England (PHE) is seeking applications from local authorities with a high prevalence of childhood obesity and deprivation.  Successful applicants will be allocated funding to support their work over the period 2021 to 2022.

 

Details of the grant:

 

·         Up to £4.4 million is being made available by Public Health England in 2021 to 2022 (single year funding) for the provision of an extended brief intervention and behavioural weight management service for children aged between 2 and 19 years old and their families.

·         PHE have stated that: “The extended brief intervention will require local authorities to test approaches for the proactive follow-up of children identified as being overweight or having obesity through the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP), and offer motivational support, including onward referral to locally available behavioural weight management services for children and families.

·         Behavioural weight management services for children and families should be based on current evidence and reach those at increased risk of obesity, such as children from Black or Asian ethnic groups and those living in areas of high deprivation.”

·         A strong focus on ‘developing the evidence base’ and a ‘joined up approach’ (e.g. with the wider NHS services and voluntary organisations and community networks) is required.

·         The funding will be distributed across 5-10 local authorities (LAs), and needs to be spent by April 2022 (could be extended to June 2022 in exceptional circumstances). NYCC will therefore be developing a bid for circa 400-500k.

·         News of the grant was released via press releases in mid-March 2021, followed by a webinar for local authorities on the 24th March, which provided more details.

·         Following the webinar, a meeting was held on 31st March with NYCC Public Health (PH) colleagues to discuss the option of applying for the grant.  It was acknowledged that priority would be given to local authorities with a high prevalence of childhood obesity and deprivation, and thus North Yorkshire may not be as likely to be successful.  However, the group agreed to apply for the grant and to focus the interventions on the areas of North Yorkshire with the highest levels of deprivation, rural deprivation and childhood obesity (predominantly Selby and Scarborough). It was also felt that our existing partnership with Leeds Beckett University, and a strong ‘research’ element, would strengthen the bid.

·         The initial deadline for the grant application was 11.59pm on 16th April, however this has been extended to the 23rd April due to concerns about the tight timescales, particularly with it being just after the Easter break.

 

Proposed intervention:

 

·         Meetings have been held to date between NYCC Public Health and Leeds Beckett University staff and students to identify proposals for the bid. Conversations are ongoing to refine ideas. Other partners such as HDFT, social care, Early Help, North Yorkshire Sport, and North Yorkshire Youth are also being informed and consulted about the bid.

·         The proposal is to build upon what we already have in place. Since the decommissioning of the Healthy Choices child and family weight management service for North Yorkshire last year, NYCC PH have been working with Leeds Beckett University to develop and pilot a digital child and family weight management service for 4-11 year-olds (called Back2Basics).  This service is being piloted between April-August 2021.

·         The proposal for the grant is therefore to build on the pilot and develop a similar service for adolescents (12-18 year-olds).

·         The main elements of the proposed intervention are:

 

o   Extended brief interventions – delivered by dedicated staff (e.g. NCMP staff and / or dieticians) who will contact adolescents and families identified as needing support with a healthy weight.  2-3 telephone/video calls to deliver a brief intervention and signposting to other services.

o   Child and family weight management service for 12-18 year-olds – digital / remote service based on website access, dietician support and peer support.

o   Targeting hard to reach and at risk groups – areas of highest deprivation & obesity levels (Scarborough, Selby), adolescents with disabilities, children in care, those hit hardest by covid etc. Focus on reducing barriers to access and co-producing services.

o   Communications plan – aimed at professionals and the public (target groups).  Co-produced with adolescents, using videos, social media etc.

oTraining for professionals and key/community workers.

o   Developing the evidence base – using expertise at Leeds Beckett University (staff and PhD student). Big focus on data collection and sharing findings. Possible NIHR funding for extra research capacity.

 

 

·         If successful, the intervention to develop child and family weight management services and support will link up with the development of the Adult Weight Management Services in North Yorkshire. At the same time of announcing the child and family grant, a grant for LAs to develop their adult WM services was also announced.

 

The grant allocation for North Yorkshire County Council, for the Adult Weight Management Service is £180,601. The funding is a one-off allocation and is available for the financial year 2021/22.

 

The NYCC Public Health team have formally accepted the grant funding allocation for North Yorkshire.  Options of how to best utilise the funding are being worked through.  The funding will fundamentally be utilised to support key target groups to better access local weight management support and achieve weight loss outcomes.

 

 

LEGAL AND GOVERNANCE COMPLIANCE

Under the Constitution and Executive Members Scheme of Delegation, the decision to authorise the submission of a bid for grant/other external funding over £100,000 is taken by the individual Executive Member following consultation with the relevant Corporate Director and the Corporate Director Strategic Resources. Para 6 (a) of the Executive Members’ Delegation Scheme and Financial Procedure Rule 8 apply.

The Consortium Memorandum of Association has been reviewed by legal services.

 

RECOMMENDATION

To approve North Yorkshire County Council’s application to Public Health England for a Child and Family Weight Management Services grant to develop and test new approaches to supporting adolescents and their families (particularly those from hard to reach groups and deprived areas) with healthy weight management, and to contribute to developing the evidence base, in 2021/22.

 

REPORT AUTHOR

Helen Ingle, Health Improvement Manager, Public Health

13th April 2021

 

SUPPORTING ANNEX

 

Public Health England

Questions and Answers Document

 

 

 

 

Evidence reviews: