6. 6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: Obesity

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:06 pm on 11 January 2017.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 4:06, 11 January 2017

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Also, thank you for dealing with that point so I didn’t have to. I’d like to thank Members for what I think has, on the whole, been a really interesting and useful debate. ‘Taking Wales Forward’ commits us to developing and delivering four cross-cutting, Government-wide strategies, including our healthy and active strategy. So, this approach will prompt a change in the way that we identify and respond to some of those really stubborn societal issues that are complex and cross-portfolio and which do require a multi-partner approach. Tackling obesity is obviously one such issue.

I think it’s fair to say that we do do a great deal to support people in Wales to make healthy and active choices and to try and maintain a healthy weight, but it is clear that we can’t make the improvements that we want to make on our own. If we are to ensure that the vision of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 becomes a reality, we do need a whole-of-society approach to maximise well-being today and to ensure that the behaviours that benefit health tomorrow are well understood and acted on both by Government, our other partners, and, crucially, by individuals themselves.

The Public Health (Wales) Bill will further progress our efforts to embed health and well-being in all policies and programmes. It builds on the work of the future generations Act by providing Ministers with the power to stipulate the circumstances in which public bodies must carry out health impact assessments, supporting them to consider more systematically how their decisions and plans can contribute to improving health and well-being whilst minimising any negative impacts.

Obesity is a complex problem with no easy answer. We know that addressing it requires commitment right across Welsh Government. Many policy areas are already playing their part: planning, education, health, procurement, sport—they and others all have a major contribution to make. It also requires—[Interruption.] Yes, of course.