Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:47 pm on 2 February 2022.
I very much agree with the sentiments expressed in terms of the importance of obesity and tackling obesity if we are to create the sort of Wales we want to see in terms of health and well-being. It is a major challenge and it has been for some time a growing challenge, and we do need to make sure that the NHS responds effectively when people have health problems connected with obesity. But I very much agree that, beyond that, we need to move much more onto the preventative agenda, and I do believe that schools are absolutely crucial.
We had Tanni Grey-Thompson's report talking about the importance of making sure that our young people, our children, get into good habits early on that will stay with them for life; the importance of the school curriculum in ensuring that children are active enough in schools, they realise the importance of staying fit, active and healthy, and that there are those extra activities beyond the school day. Because I think we all know that some children get the mum or dad taxi experience where they develop their interests and their abilities through sport and activity and other extra curricular matters. Other children, particularly children in more deprived communities, do not so often get that experience, but they will get it, hopefully, through school if it's provided at the school during or beyond the school day. I really think we need to ensure that we do everything we can with and through our schools.
Others are helping that effort. In Newport, for example, Newport Live, which is the leisure trust, has a school sports programme and makes its facilities available to schools and works with our schools. They're also very active in the community, dealing with those deprivation factors around inactivity. They have a Positive Futures programme, for example, which reaches out to communities. They also work with the NHS through the Wales national exercise referral scheme, and we have Newport county's County in the Community arm working with schools providing a six-week programme for 900 nine to 10-year-olds every single year, and they are also reaching out into our communities using facilities to deliver sport and activity throughout the year. They do find, though, during the winter months, that half of that community outreach programme has to stop because there isn't lighting at some of those facilities, and they also find that the surfaces aren't everything they should be, and I think that's something we should look at addressing through Welsh Government, local government, Sport Wales and other partners to ensure that the facilities are up to the mark. And similarly for all those grass-roots sports clubs, such as Undy football club, for example, which has over 500 people active on a weekly basis—lots of youngsters, girls, women, getting active, enjoying sport and also enjoying the social aspects. I do believe we need to provide more support to these community players, Dirprwy Lywydd. Diolch yn fawr.