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Essay / Critical analysis of UK childhood obesity policy
A policy is a key social factor that maintains the stability and functioning of the social system. They are developed by researching problems in society and identifying ways to solve them using academic disciplines. Fabians (1884) states that government is chosen to create and implement policies because it is believed to manage the situation better than a free market. For example, creating a policy on childhood obesity. This measure was submitted to Parliament due to the growing number of childhood obesity. This is demonstrated by the scale of inequalities; height and weight are recorded for children in reception and in the last year of primary school. Statistics show that a fifth of children are overweight or obese when they start school. This figure also increases to around a third by the time children leave secondary school. It has also been suggested that there is a link between childhood obesity and childhood deprivation. Another problem with childhood obesity is that it is too expensive. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In fact, obesity costs the NHS £5.1 billion every year. Additionally, obesity is a key contributor to type 2 diabetes, which costs the NHS £8.8 billion a year (9% of the NHS budget). Despite this, the UK spends a much smaller amount on various obesity prevention programs (£638 million). This policy should also be enforced due to excessive caloric intake associated with the lack of exercise that children receive in today's society. In 2008, 28% of boys and 19% of girls met government guidelines for physical activity. However, in 2012, 21% of boys and only 16% of girls passed. Both for boys and girls, the percentage has decreased in 4 years. Another problem regarding childhood obesity is that children eat and drink excessive amounts of sugar, which is advisable. SACN suggests that sugar consumption should only reach a maximum of 5%, but it reaches three times that amount. This policy aims to address these issues in various ways: such as restrictions on promotions, advertising, sugar tax on soft drinks and sugar reformulation. England's public health body suggests that the promotion of unhealthy food and drink should be reduced or even balanced with healthier products. With the additional intention of tackling products high in salt and fat. They planned to achieve this by introducing mandatory controls that would reduce promotions of this type in retail environments, such as 'one get one free'. This will therefore reduce household sugar consumption. The findings are outlined in the House of Commons report on the response to childhood obesity. They suggest that although the government said it would enforce these mandatory controls, it did not follow through and it was not regulated. They therefore suggest that there be continued monitoring of these promotions. Therefore, retailers have not changed their behavior with their unhealthy promotions, but closer government scrutiny suggests that customer behavior has changed. Thus, this creates customer demand for healthier products on sale. For this reason, it is an ineffective element of the policy. A contradiction lies in the fact that some supermarkets are changing the layout of their stores to adapt to this situation and promote..