Diolch, Llywydd. Last week I was delighted to launch 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales', our 10-year strategy to help prevent and reduce obesity. This sets a clear path for a long-term approach that makes use of the five ways of working set out in the future generations Act as key components to deliver an approach that will have far-reaching impacts for the future health of the population.

Obesity is a complex issue, with many contributing factors acting at an individual, community and global level. We are at a point in time where the UK already has one of the highest levels of obesity in western Europe. We start from a position where over 60 per cent of our adult population are either overweight or obese, and that has become a normalised state, with around 27 per cent of our four- and five-year-old children starting school each year who are already overweight or obese.

The burden of obesity is felt hardest in our least affluent communities, and there are significant impacts upon life expectancy as we see worrying trends around links to type 2 diabetes, cancers, heart conditions and many other conditions associated with diet and an inactive lifestyle. We know that obesity can also have a significant impact on our mental health. In many cases that tracks from a young age to having lifelong consequences.

The final strategy is a culmination of the views of our stakeholders, international evidence and research. When I stood before you to launch the consultation, I was grateful for the large measure of cross-party support and the understanding of the significance of this as an issue. Since then, we've held far-reaching consultation, which included conversations with over 1,000 people across Wales. There is strong support for the proposals that we have set out in the strategy, together with energy and backing within our communities to support positive lifestyle change. I want to ensure that our strategy unlocks that potential.

Our strategy sets out a 10-year vision to help us all to make the healthy choice the easy choice. Our aim is to achieve these changes by 2030. We want future generations to live in environments where the healthy choice is the norm, where physical activity is part of everyday life, encouraged and supported by working in partnership with local government, education and transport, where Wales’s natural beauty is taken advantage of and our food choices are nutritious and affordable. I want to close the health inequalities gap and, in particular, I want to focus and target support for children and families.