SNP Government failing healthy weight target…so they set a new target

The SNP Government's healthy weight programme target was failing, so they made up a new target.

Mary Scanlon MSP, Scottish Conservative Health Spokesperson, said:

"It simply beggars belief that, because the SNP Government's target was not going to be met, they changed it from over 19,000 down to less than 7,000 and described their original goal as a 'development target'.

"We do not approve of a centralised target-driven culture in our NHS but the SNP does, which makes this development all the more astonishing. It is certainly one way of avoiding the accusation of yet another broken promise.

"This problem did not appear overnight, nor will it disappear overnight. We need a complete change of culture. We can make a start with more child health visitors. Scottish Conservatives have proposed a Standard Universal Health Visiting Service for all families and children up to the age of 5, which would help provide families with key nutritional advice during those crucial early years.

"The SNP Government has also totally failed to implement its promise of a minimum of 2 hours PE per week for every pupil. It is our children who lose out in these circumstances.

"It is radical ideas like these which are needed to combat Scotland's obesity epidemic. Inventing targets and then ditching them is not the way forward."

Below is the parliamentary question Mary asked and the response she received.

Index Heading: Health and Wellbeing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been a reduction in the national HEAT 3 target of 19,493 children aged 5 to 15 to complete a healthy weight programme and, if so, for what reason and what the new target is.

(S3W-38273)

Ms Shona Robison :

The HEAT 3 Child Healthy Weight target was a development target.

Final target numbers were agreed with Boards as part of the 2010-11 Local Delivery Plan sign-off process.

The final target agreed in March 2010 was 6317 completed interventions with the majority (4453) being delivered in the third year of the target. We are in the process of agreeing the target for the next three years of 4500, 5000 and 5500 interventions, which will result in 15000 children completing a healthy weight intervention over the three-year period.

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