Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and
Social Care)(): On the 4th of March this
year, the Prime Minister announced an additional £100 million
over 2021/22 to support people living with obesity to lose weight
and maintain healthier lifestyles. I am pleased to confirm that
the Government is dedicating £34.9 million of this new funding to
support the expansion of local authority weight management
services for adults, children, and families. Funds will be
allocated via two ringfenced grants under section 31 of the Local
Government Act 2003 and will be available to Local Authorities
for 12 months from the beginning of the 2021/22 financial year.
The first grant will distribute £30.5 million among all local
authorities in England to commission adult behavioural weight
management services, based on population size, obesity
prevalence, and deprivation. The funding is conditional on local
authorities commissioning new, or expanding existing, behavioural
weight management services, providing information on current
service provision, and regularly submitting user data. This will
be critical to demonstrate what works as we build a long-term
approach to behavioural weight management services. The grant
circular, setting out local authority allocations and the funding
conditions, will be published on GOV.UK today.
The second grant will distribute £4.4 million to test the
expansion of behavioural weight management services for children
and families and pilot an intervention to improve access to local
services for children identified as overweight or obese through
the National Child Measurement Programme. All local authorities
may submit an expression of interest for this funding. Funding
will be allocated to local authorities according to the strength
of their application and local need based on population size,
child obesity prevalence and child-specific deprivation measures.
The government will look to fund up to 10 areas, depending on the
volume and strength of applications received. As with the adult
grant, funding will be conditional on successful local
authorities: commissioning behavioural weight management services
for children and families; piloting an extended brief
intervention linked to the National Child Measurement Programme;
providing information on current child and family service
provision; and regularly submitting outcome data using a
standardised dataset. The expression of interest for child and
family weight management services will be announced on GOV.UK
today.
Public Health England will administer both grants and will be
working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to
monitor and evaluate this important investment in behavioural
weight management services.
