News story
National Child Measurement Programme briefing is launched
The Local Government Association and PHE have produced a guide for local councillors about the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).
This programme became a duty of local government in April 2013.
The National Child Measurement Programme involves annual measurement of the height and weight of children in reception year and Year 6. Local authorities return the data to the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
The purposes of the programme are to:
- provide public health surveillance data on children’s weight
- understand how widespread obesity is and trends at local and national levels
- help make decisions about planning and commissioning services
- contribute data for the Public Health Outcomes Framework indicator on excess weight in 4 to 5 and 10 to 11 year olds
- provide parents with feedback on their child’s weight, to help them understand how healthy their child is, and support and encourage behaviour change
- provide a way to directly engage with families with overweight, underweight and obese children
The briefing explains:
- that the NCMP is one of the new statutory public health duties of local authorities
- what the NCMP is and how it can be carried out
- how local councillors can support the programme
The briefing, available from the LGA website, also lists a range of sources for further information, including Healthy Lives Healthy People
Updates to this page
Published 3 May 2013