Child obesity has improved under Labour and is set to continue improving, despite what the Conservatives say, Gillian Merron tells Nick Hughes


Getting rival politicians to agree is a thankless task at the best of times. But when there's an election looming the mudslinging escalates.

Last week, Andrew Lansley accused the government of marginalising obesity and prioritising short-term initiatives over a long-term strategy for public health.

When I put this charge to Public Health Minister Gillian Merron in her spacious Richmond House office, her response is a mixture of anger and incredulity. "Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. There's no evidence of that, in fact all the evidence is the opposite way."

Merron takes any criticism of the government's public health policy personally. Understandably so, given her role. "The basic premise of my whole job is about understanding improvement in people's health, maintaining good health and embedding change," she says.

There's some evidence to show she's succeeding. Last year the Health Survey for England reported that the figure for child obesity prevalence in 2008 was at its lowest levels since 2001.

But the crux of Lansley's argument is that under Labour, long-term behavioural change in healthy lifestyles has been eschewed in favour of short-term wins, with initiatives such as Healthy Workplaces (2005), Small Change Big Difference (2007) and Healthy Towns (2008) having lost momentum, disappeared completely or been superseded.

In Merron's eyes this is disingenuous. "If there are short-term aspects to the strategies, it doesn't mean the strategies themselves are short-term. Instead, they are kick-starts to long-term campaigns. I actually think it's a very sustained approach."

Investment
She flags up the £372m the government spent in putting its Healthy Weight Healthy Lives strategy into place as an example of Labour's commitment to tackling obesity. Although all departmental budgets are under review, "it will cost us more as a nation in terms of obesity if we don't continue to tackle it", she adds.

Schemes such as free fruit and veg for schools and free school swimming are here to stay, while last week Merron announced that a pilot scheme helping c-stores in deprived areas stock fresh fruit and veg is being rolled out to three more regions.

If Healthy Weight Healthy Lives is the vehicle for change, she says Change4Life is the engine. It's only been in existence for one year, but Merron believes the key messages are already beginning to filter through to the public.

"Change4Life is a big shift away from the public health message of thou shan't do this, thou shan't do that. It's about saying do rather than don't and I'm very keen on that. It's about a movement of change, it isn't a wagging finger."

Merron is encouraged by the food industry's support for Change4Life, saying it has a "hugely important role" in the delivery. She cites Kellogg's on-pack exercise tips as part of its support of Breakfast4Life as an example of how the industry can support the public health agenda.

Last week Merron met with Change4Life partners. The atmosphere was "positively buzzing", she says. "You had around the table big household names such as Mars, Unilever, Kellogg's, Asda and Tesco, who are very excited because they know this is what their customers want."

Buzzing may or may not be an exaggeration, but the positive tone of Change4Life has undoubtedly been welcomed by the industry.

Where suppliers might beg to differ is with Merron's assertion that the government does not deem any food to be unhealthy per se; this from the same administration that pioneered the concept of nutrient profiling. Yet Merron is insistent that despite advertising restrictions and its commitment to traffic-light labelling the government is not preaching a "thou shalt not message".

"It's all about how much you eat isn't it? That's the truth. If you really want to equip people [with the necessary information] what I want to know is, if I eat this, what does that mean for the rest of my day or the rest of my week and do I have alternatives?"

No simple label
Merron stresses the need for consumers to make informed choices about the food they buy. To this end, she is frustrated that there's still no single system of nutritional labelling. However, her claim that the industry is interested in a single scheme because "they understand it's what customers want" is surely wishful thinking given that the major retailers each have their own system of GDAs, traffic lights or a hybrid of both, based on what works best for their own customers.

The minister brushes this point aside and maintains that the FSA proposals for a single label will inform the government's position. "I think we have to see it through. No-one said it was going to be easy. If it was easy it would have been done by now."

The FSA will continue to play a major role in driving nutrition strategy under a Labour administration. Since the agency came into being 10 years ago, relations between it and the Department of Health have not always been cordial. One nutritionist who has sat on FSA committees describes their past relationship as "a turf war between two bodies who thought they were responsible for things".

Merron, however, paints a more optimistic picture. "I think we work well together. They work closely with us on Change4Life, salt and saturated foods and we also work jointly with our partners. They're dedicated to one role and I think that's helpful."

This "one role" has unquestionably broadened in scope over the years and would broaden further should Labour secure another term in office. In its Food Matters report, the government recommended the FSA work in collaboration with other departments to extend its current advice to include sustainability.

The agency's current Eatwell site will be expanded and used as the basis for a new integrated website offering consumers advice on what constitutes a sustainable diet.

"Sustainable food is becoming an increasingly pressing issue and this project will help to ensure that consumers have access to information that will help them to make more sustainable food choices," says Merron.

Alcohol legislation
A more entrenched issue is that of alcohol abuse. Merron insists there can be a role for legislation in alcohol policy, citing the government's banning of irresponsible drinks promotions and mandating the provision of free tapwater in pubs.

She also warns drink suppliers that if they fail to act on improving the labelling of alcoholic drinks, the government will not be afraid to step in. "Voluntary labelling hasn't worked as well as we would like. Industry should not need legislation but if we don't get the response we will take action."

She stops short of Lansley's commitment to ban below-cost sales, but acknowledges that "price is a matter that affects consumption". She also pledges to help small convenience stores adjust to the likely tobacco display ban. "Everybody knows tobacco is a declining market and wise convenience stores will be diversifying. But I do think it's absolutely right and proper that there's a longer lead-in time for smaller stores."

What's clear from interviewing Lansley and Merron is that while they agree on some policy details, their visions for delivering change are far apart. On public health at least, there is more than a cigarette paper between Labour and the Conservatives this election.

Read more
Tories’ health strategist vows a dose of joined-up thinking (20 March 2010)
Second Opinion: Lansley is right to trim the FSA... (20 March 2010)
Government fruit and veg scheme grows (20 March 2010)
Lansley vows he will rein back FSA (13 March 2010)

Topics