Obesity: policy context

In February 2010, the Scottish Government and COSLA launched a long-term obesity strategy entitled Preventing Overweight and Obesity in Scotland: A Route Map Towards Healthy Weight.

The Route Map has identified four key areas in which action is likely to have the greatest effect:

  • reducing demand for and consumption of excessive amounts of high calorie foods and drinks;
  • increasing opportunities for uptake of walking, cycling and other physical activity;
  • establishing life-long healthy habits in children; and
  • increasing the responsibility of organisations for the health and wellbeing of their employees

In 2008, the Scottish Government published Healthy Weight, Active Living: an action plan to improving diet, increase physical activity and tackling obesity (2008-2011). The Action Plan includes commitments to increase funding for NHS boards in Scotland, to deliver consistent weight management strategies across Scotland and to roll out the Counterweight programme across Scotland. This action plan builds on the continued delivery of two existing strategies: the Scottish Diet Action Plan and the physical activity strategy (2003).

The Scottish Government has also set a new national target to reduce the rate of increase in the proportion of children outwith the healthy weight range by 2018. Progress against this national target is available on the Scottish Government website. The national target will also be underpinned by a new NHS 'HEAT' target for the provision of unhealthy weight treatment programmes in NHS Board areas. The Scottish Government has published Child Healthy Weight Programmes Development Guidance (173KB), for NHS Boards, on meeting these national targets.

There is specific guidance on the clinical management of obesity in Scotland in the form of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) Guideline No. 115

Obesity also features in the Quality and Outcome Framework for the new General Medical Services contract.

At a UK level the Foresight Tackling Obesities: Future Choices Project has gathered scientific evidence from across a wide range of disciplines to produce a long-term vision of how a sustainable response to obesity in the UK can be delivered over the next 40 years. Further information on the Project, its aims, current work and outputs can be accessed on the Foresight obesity pages