Further education in and out of schools is needed to tackle childhood obesity, following a “drop off” in healthy initiatives.

Brent Council’s health and wellbeing board discussed how schools and other organisations are ignoring campaigns after an “initial burst of enthusiasm”.

According to its members, there should be more support given to schools to address childhood obesity, while family members should also be encouraged to reduce unhealthy behaviour.

Cllr Krupesh Hirani, responsible for public health at Brent Council, said: “One of the issues we have is the habits once children leave school.

“Of course, the work with schools needs to happen – but there is something cultural as well and we need to be reaching out to parents.

“There’s something we are missing, and we need to get together to target this.”

Dr Melanie Smith, director of public health at Brent Council, admitted that there have been issues with getting the message across in and out of schools in the region.

She said it was important for health groups in Brent to “try and understand what is getting in the way”.

This, she explained, extends to specific initiatives like the ‘daily mile’, which encourages schoolchildren to walk a mile every day.

“After an initial burst of enthusiasm, we have found it difficult to get schools to sign up,” she said.

“We are looking at ways where we can better communicate these initiatives. We obviously aren’t pitching it correctly and would welcome any advice.”

Gail Tolley, director of children’s services at Brent Council, pointed out that she has taken part in several ‘daily mile’ walks in the borough.

She agreed that schools must work hard to promote healthy living, since children spend 15 per cent of there lives there between the ages of five and 16.

But she explained that they cannot do it “on their own” if they are to make “significant inroads” in improving their pupils’ health.

The board agreed to look at ways to once more raise the profile of fighting childhood obesity in Brent.