Dear colleague
The Scottish Government's Healthy Eating, Active Living action plan was published in June 2008. It outlined our intention to establish pathfinder healthy weight community programmes in a handful of locations across Scotland. We are now seeking submissions from local authorities, working with local delivery partners, who wish to participate by establishing such a programme. The annexes below provide details of the information sought from applicants and further background on the aims of this project.
The objective of Healthy Weight Communities will be to demonstrate the ways in which engaging communities in healthy eating, physical activity and healthy weight activities as part of a single coherent programme may have a greater impact on health outcomes than current discrete activities.
Healthy Weight Communities present an opportunity to bring together existing activities, and combine these with innovative approaches, to direct energy towards a clear common purpose. As well as a powerful means of contributing to the national healthy weight indicator, these programmes will contribute to a range of other national outcome indicators for health and wellbeing. They will support performance against the local outcome indicator for the proportion of obese children in Primary 1 and potentially support delivery against the childhood healthy weight HEAT target. It is hoped that programmes will also contribute to outcomes in terms of sustainable places, resilient communities, thriving local economies and effective partnership working across sectors.
Healthy Eating, Active Living set out the scale of the challenge and costs Scotland faces from rising obesity rates. Overweight and obesity not only lead to serious chronic disease, including the 'big killers' prioritised by Equally Well, it is also estimated that by 2050, if left unchecked, obesity in Scotland could cost us £5bn. Of this, £4bn would be attributable to expenses other than those borne directly by the NHS, for example costs to local services and to the economy from productivity lost to poor health. The Scottish Government and COSLA are committed to working together to put a halt to the increasing prevalence of obesity.
Strong local leadership and championing will be central to the success and sustainability of the Healthy Weight Community programmes. Working via your Community Planning processes, both strategically and operationally, to deliver these programmes will help to achieve shared health and wellbeing priorities under the National Performance Framework. The Scottish Government and COSLA would like to encourage you and your local partners to participate in this important pathfinder project.
ANNEX A
Healthy Weight Community Programmes - information for applicants
Project aim
The objective of establishing Healthy Weight Communities will be to demonstrate the ways in which community-wide approaches to engaging children, young people in healthy eating, physical activity and healthy weight activities, as part of a coherent single programme, may have a greater impact on long term health outcomes than current discrete activities. These cross-sector programmes will be aimed at children and young people in family, school, community and commercial contexts. It is expected that this will encompass the strong work that is already underway as a result of the Schools (Health Promotion & Nutrition) Act.
The Foresight report Tacking Obesities is clear that successfully challenging obesity means changing our environments from those that foster weight-gain to those that support healthy living and that this can only be achieved by taking on the causes of our poor eating and activity habits in the round. Complementing this, the experiences of the French EPODE project provide compelling grounds for recommending a community-based approach that capitalises on strong local leadership, the involvement of a range of local partners and the strategic targeting and promotion of popular local programmes.
Application process
Proposals to establish Healthy Weight Community Programmes are now sought. These should provide the information requested at points 1 to 12 below in no more than 6 pages (please do not provide supplementary appendices).
Proposals should be sent to Emily Postan ( emily.postan@scotland.gsi.gov.uk) by Friday 10 April 2009. The decision of the assessment panel will be announced in the week beginning 27 April.
A Criteria for assessment of bids
The criteria below will be used by a joint Scottish Government and COSLA assessment panel to select Healthy Weight Community proposals that will receive Scottish Government funding and support.
Please demonstrate how the proposed programme in your area would meet each of the criteria below; all must be met for an application to be successful. We expect to select between 3 and 5 communities.
The following 3 criteria will be assessed on a simple met / not met basis
1. Programmes will benefit from leadership and championing at the highest level in each of the agencies involved. (Explicit support will be looked for, an aspiration to secure this in future will not be sufficient to meet this criterion)
2. A specific community has already been identified as a prospective Healthy Weight Community, or a clear method is in place for identifying one in the near future. (It is acceptable to submit applications for more than one community programme provided the applications are sufficiently distinct)
3. The approach taken will be oriented towards evaluation and shared learning, including participation in a national evaluation study
The remaining 4 criteria will be assessed using a scoring scale 0-4 (where 0=criterion not met and 4=strong evidence of fulfilled criterion)
4. Programmes will create connections between multiple healthy improvement services or initiatives (existing and new, as appropriate) in a range of settings with a clear vision of how this will add value in achieving a shared set of objectives.
5. Programmes will focus on achieving healthy weight outcomes for children and young people, this may well happen in the context of achieving health benefits for whole families. Achieving wider outcomes, for example in terms of sustainable communities, will be a strength.
6. The planning and delivery of programmes will exemplify effective and committed cross-sector partnership working between local authority, health, voluntary and private sectors.
7. Programmes will make effective use of appropriate techniques to identify and target priority sections of the community.
8. A popular shared programme identity and brand with be established and promoted.
B Further information sought
Please also include the following information in your application. These are not essential criteria, but will provide useful context for assessment
9. Please provide additional relevant information on the community (likely to be) selected (e.g. population, geography, urban / rural, demographic profile and health inequalities).
10. Are you planning to link the proposed Healthy Weight Community programme with another community demonstration project (such as a Smarter Choices, Smarter Places town, an Equally Well Test Site or a Climate Challenge Fund project) in the same locality?
11. Please provide an estimate of when your Healthy Weight Community programme will begin, including having dedicated project management in place.
C Finance
A total allocation of £0.5m is available in each of 2009/10 and 2010/11 from the Scottish Government's health improvement budget to support all the Healthy Weight Community programmes. We would hope to be able to support programmes to run for at least 5 years to maximise learning and outcomes, but at this point we cannot guarantee funding beyond the current budget period.
12. Please provide information on how much funding is sought to support your proposed programme in each of 2009/10 and 2010/11. The following factors should be borne in mind when doing so:
- This Scottish Government funding is not being provided for services, so these costs will need to be met through existing local budgets. This funding is intended as an additional allocation to local authorities for two purposes:
- Employment of a local project manager
- Contribution to effective local targeting and promotion of the coherent single programme of work
- It is anticipated that the £0.5m annual allocation will be shared by around 3 - 5 Healthy Weight Community programmes and meet the costs of a national evaluation study.
- Please take into account the information provided in response to point 11 in assessing the funding needs in the year 1.
Further background information for applicants, including frequently asked questions, will be available at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/health/19133/healthyweight
Annex B
Healthy Weight Community Programmes
Briefing Paper originally produced for SOLACE meeting 30 January 2009
1. Purpose
A commitment was made in the Scottish Government's Healthy Eating, Active Living: an action plan to improve diet, increase physical activity and tackle obesity (June 2008) to establish pathfinder healthy weight communities in a handful of locations across Scotland. This paper provides a brief overview of the Healthy Weight Communities project to inform local authority Chief Executives of the Scottish Government's proposed approach.
2. Aim of the programmes
The objective of establishing Healthy Weight Communities will be to demonstrate the ways in which concerted and joined-up community-wide approaches to engaging children and families in healthy eating, physical activity and healthy weight activities may have a greater impact on long term health outcomes than current discrete activities.
Strong local championing, partnership working, and coherent targeting and promotion of these programmes will be central to their success and sustainability. Evaluation of outcomes will be integral to the purpose of these programmes. This proposal has been inspired in part by the highly regarded 'EPODE' community projects in France http://www.epode.fr/
3. Timing
Invitations to participate will be issued to local authority Chief Executives in February 2009.
Applications will be assessed according to criteria based on the features outlined in point 6 below. Communities selected to participate will be notified later this spring.
Currently Scottish Government funding is currently available to support these pathfinder projects in 2009/10 and 2010/11.
4. Funding
Scottish Government funding is not provided to finance services; local programmes will be expected to meet the costs of constituent projects and activities from existing resources. It is proposed that the overarching programmes will be overseen by a project manager in each participating community. Scottish Government funding will be provided directly to local authorities for two purposes:
- Employment of local project managers
- Contribution to effective local targeting and promotion of programmes
5. Outcomes
Overweight and obesity pose a serious threat to long-term health and wellbeing. Addressing obesity will also contribute to priority areas in tackling health inequalities, as identified by Equally Well.
Healthy Weight Community programmes will be aimed at encouraging behaviour change leading to children and young people achieving or maintaining healthy weight and in the longer term, reductions in associated serious chronic disease.
It is expected that participation in this programmes will contribute to a range of national health and wellbeing outcomes and to Local Outcome Indicator A11 (proportion and number of obese children in primary 1).
It is hoped that programmes will also contribute to wider outcomes in terms of sustainable places, resilient communities, thriving local economies and effective partnership working across sectors.
The Scottish Government is working closely with COSLA to ensure that the introduction and funding of these pathfinder community projects will fit with the principles of the Concordat and National Performance Framework.
6. Key features of Healthy Weight Community programmes
The following are based on the priorities outlined in the 'Healthy Eating Active Living' action plan, the evidence from the UK Foresight report 'Tackling Obesities' and the EPODE programme in France. The lessons of EPODE recommend a strategic approach to targeting and promotion of programmes, capitalising on strong local leadership and the involvement of a range of partners. The Foresight report emphasises the need to take a multi-faceted approach to tackling obesity, encompassing opportunities on both the 'energy in' and 'energy out' sides of the equation, challenging social norms and reshaping our obesogenic environment.
Joining-up activities: We are in a strong position in Scotland in having a wide range of physical activity and healthy eating projects in place in our communities. It will be a matter for local areas to decide the suite of partners and activities that will make up their Healthy Weight Community and to create from these a cohesive and complementary programme of focused activity with a shared aim and identity.
Local project management: A local project manager will be responsible for drawing together activities into a coherent programme and inspiring support and commitment amongst delivery partners and communities themselves. It is anticipated that project mangers will be employed by participating local authorities. It will be up to local areas to decide the most suitable reporting route for managers to facilitate effective partnership working between local authorities, the NHS and wider stakeholders.
Outcomes focus: Delivery will be informed by evidence of what will contribute to healthy weight outcomes. Programmes should be oriented to evaluation and sharing of lessons.
Partnership-working: We expect that activities comprising the Healthy Weight Community programmes will take place in a range of settings including schools, community facilities and local businesses. Project managers, with the support of local strategic partnerships, will facilitate the involvement of a wide range of cross-sector players, including communities themselves.
Local leadership: Championing by local authority Chief Executives, elected members and NHS senior management will be crucial to successful delivery.
Targeting and promotion: It is hoped that programmes will take a key lesson from EPODE by using marketing techniques to achieve two key aims:
- Identifying priority audiences and segmenting these in order to target messages and activities most effectively; and
- Using promotional methods, including branding, to raise awareness and create a linked identity and momentum across the various initiatives that make up the Healthy Weight Community programme
Examples of potential elements of a programme include:
- School-based initiatives such as Active Schools or free school meals
- Community projects such as Girls on the Move, community food initiatives, active travel schemes or greenspace creation
- Retail or catering promotions such as the SGF neighbourhood shops healthyliving programme or Consumer Focus Scotland's healthyliving award for caterers
- Partnership with the Scottish Government's Take Life On campaign
- Childhood healthy weight interventions such as those being introduced by each Health Board in response to the HEAT (H3) target.
- Links with related co-located community initiatives, such as Smarter Choices, Smarter Places demonstration towns (sustainable travel), Equally Well Test Sites (health inequalities) or Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative
7. Central support
It is proposed that the following elements will be provided by the Scottish Government to support local delivery:
- Funding for elements of management, targeting and promotion, but not services
- Coordination by the Scottish Government's Health Improvement Strategy Division
- Facilitated links to related Scottish Government programmes, such as the Take Life On campaign, and community-based initiatives such as the Equally Well Test Sites and Smarter Choices, Smarter Places demonstration towns
- Tools and models demonstrating the connections between actions and outcomes related to the aims of this project
- Support in developing the methods to target priority audiences effectively and raise awareness of the programmes
- Networking events and other opportunities for project managers and other local champions to meet and share experiences
- Management of national evaluation study
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