Taking the approach of 'A Healthier Wales', this is the first time that the Welsh Government has adopted a co-ordinated approach to tackling obesity. The range of cross-Government action highlights how existing programmes and approaches can work in tandem to promote and enable positive change. This includes how interventions in areas like transport, planning, early years, education, communities and health services can be brought together to enable even greater opportunities for people to change behaviours. 

The four themes of the strategy are: healthy environments, healthy settings, healthy people, and leadership and enabling change. They illustrate the system-wide approach that will be required to tackle obesity, recognising that the environment influences our everyday choices. Over generations, we have evolved the environment into one that places a focus on convenience over health. We'll develop and scale approaches to reverse the current imbalance placed towards unhealthy food choices, and ensure that our active environment can help to make good physical activity choices.

Our focus upon the environment will be coupled with approaches through behavioural change. This will develop a range of actions to enable prevention and early intervention support for people, which will focus upon providing the right information, advice or provision at the right time. We'll also develop an equitable and accessible clinical obesity pathway across Wales, which will put in place a range of specialist services for those who require the most specialist support.

But obesity cannot be solved by the Government or NHS working in isolation. Our systems-based approach should help to develop leadership across all levels. This is on the basis of collective responsibility and drawing upon the strengths and assets of a particular community. We'll underpin this approach through the development of dynamic data, evaluation and strong communication.

Now, I have previously stated that we will not set superficial targets and that the strategy is focused on delivering outcomes. To supplement the strategy, we'll publish an outcomes framework in the new year, which will help us to monitor and track change. We've begun to explore new data sources to develop this work. This will provide us with a range of indicators that are linked to behavioural change.

Accompanying the strategy will be a series of two-yearly delivery plans, which will span its lifetime. The first delivery plan will be from 2020 to 2022, and it will provide detail of the initial priority areas that we will take forward. I will chair a newly-established implementation board later this year to agree these priorities and establish how to utilise and maximise existing resources, policies and programmes to achieve an integrated approach. Over the next two years, we will begin to develop policy and legislation, and I will make funding available to help achieve our aims. This will allow us to put a greater focus, together with partners, on prevention and early intervention through all systems as part of our approach to building a healthier Wales. The strategy will help to ensure that we can leverage and maximise additional funding and opportunities to drive changes across partners, to see a shift in how we use spend towards prevention. 

Of course, we have to take into consideration the impact of Brexit. Whilst I intend to announce funding approaches to influence positive health impacts across our population, the uncertainty over funding is unavoidable in the current climate. If we leave the European Union, especially a crash-out 'no deal' Brexit, then we will have many hard and unpleasant choices to make. There is no evidence to suggest there will be an overall shortage of food. However, a 'no deal' Brexit is likely to lead to a reduction in the choices and availability of some foods, especially fresh fruit and vegetables that we regularly import from the European Union. As a consequence, it is likely that costs for these foods will rise, and that will impact disproportionately upon families on the lowest incomes. We will need to consider and reflect the impact that Brexit would have on the delivery of this strategy.

I continue to welcome cross-party support and challenge to ensure that we can achieve shared ambitions and forward-thinking aims. I welcome continued support and engagement with other parties and the wider public to ensure that we can deliver an approach that will make a significant difference for the health of our population.