The Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel were scheduled to meet to discuss the council's food response, and to consider the Director of Public Health's annual report. They were also scheduled to note the commissioning of future reports.

Director of Public Health Annual Report

The panel were scheduled to consider the Director of Public Health's annual report, focusing on health inequalities, and make recommendations to the Executive if necessary. The report, entitled Working together for fairer, healthier lives for all: Understanding health inequalities in Royal Greenwich , presents significant variations in health outcomes across the borough, and calls for action to ensure everyone has the opportunity to live the healthiest life possible.

The report highlights that people in Greenwich live shorter lives and spend fewer years in good health compared to averages across London and England. It notes that people in the 20% most deprived areas of the borough have a life expectancy 6.9 years shorter for men and 6.5 years shorter for women than those in the most affluent areas.

The report identifies key principles to support a health equity approach:

• Taking a life course approach
• Neighbourhood based working
• Proportionate universalism
• A wider public health workforce

It also sets out key recommendations:

• Finding and engaging with those most at risk of health inequalities
• Influencing and supporting policy makers and professionals
• Operationalising a health equity approach across the system

The report notes that the implementation of recommendations will only be successful if carried out in collaboration with communities and partners.

Health Inequalities

The report highlights that health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in people's health, the care they receive, and their opportunities to live healthy lives. These inequalities can be measured by looking at data such as life expectancy, and can be understood across socio-economic factors, geography, specific characteristics and socially excluded groups.

The report identifies a number of key health inequalities in Greenwich:

• Life expectancy is 78.9 years for men and 82.5 years for women, but healthy life expectancy is only 60.4 years for men and 59.5 years for women.
• Children and young people experience a higher child poverty rate (37%) compared to London (32%) and England (30%).
• Heart disease and stroke are more prevalent in Black and Asian residents.
• Excess weight affects 76% of Black adults, the highest rate in the borough.
• Mental health disorders are significantly higher than the England average.
• Healthcare use and access is lower in the most deprived communities.
• Screening and vaccination coverage is lowest among the most deprived 20% of residents.

The report also highlights the importance of addressing structural inequalities such as stigma, discrimination, and racism, as well as improving living and working conditions, access to healthy food, and the quality of care services.

The Council's Food Response

The panel were scheduled to receive an update on the work to address food inequalities and the development of a borough wide food strategy.

The report notes that access to healthy, safe and nutritious food is a key building block of health, but that this is challenging to achieve for too many residents. It states that eating well is vital for good health and wellbeing, but that not everyone has the same opportunities to access and eat a healthy diet, and that where people live, and their resources, have a significant impact on what they eat.

The report states that the proportion of food secure households in the UK has seen a notable decrease, and that the same is true for the residents of Greenwich.

The report also notes that obesity is a major public health issue in England, and that there are an increasing number of families living in food poverty who are finding it more challenging to access good food and eat well.

The report sets out the council's multi-faceted partnership approach to tackling inequalities from a food and health perspective.

This report sets out the Council's multi-faceted partnership approach to tackling inequalities from a food and health perspective. The Committee is asked to note the emerging findings of the comprehensive food systems Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and that the work presented here will form the basis of developing a comprehensive system wide Food Strategy for Royal Greenwich.

The report highlights a wide programme of work in place to tackle food inequalities across the borough, supporting residents to have access to a nutritious and safe diet. The programme of work is across the life course, across all population groups and at neighbourhood and borough level, and the key areas of work include infant nutrition, food insecurity, education, community, food environment, and weight management.

Infant Nutrition

The report mentions that through Family Hub funding, a breastfeeding peer support service delivered by The Breastfeeding Network is in place to support all women on their feeding journey. It also notes that the Children's Centres and Health visiting service are both fully UNICEF Baby Friendly Accredited.

Food Insecurity

The programmes are designed to link residents at risk of food insecurity with information and support in relation to maximising their income, developing food-related knowledge and skills, and improving their access to safe and nutritious food, with a focus on reaching the most vulnerable groups.

The report mentions the following initiatives:

• Holiday Meals provision of 'grab and go' lunches for children every day of the school holidays across libraries and adventure play centres.
• Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme for 4-16 year-olds who are in receipt of Free School Meals.
• Mayors Free School Meal Programme: roll out of the Mayors Free School Meal programme for all children in primary schools.
• Six food pantries and food clubs across Greenwich.
• Ambient Food: Eight food pantries and food banks supported by shelf-stable food supplies and culturally appropriate food.
• Emergency infant formula response: emergency infant formula support those children who are in need.

Education

The Public Health team delivers the OCN (Open College Network) accredited 'How to Deliver a Cookery Club' course for community organisations who then go onto deliver food education programmes in their own communities.

Community

Monthly community meals are held in a range of locations across the borough, and community cookery clubs are delivered each year to residents who learn about healthy eating.

Food Environments

There are a wide range of programmes in place to support food environments by increasing the availability of healthy food through food business development, food growing, good food retail and an advertising policy.

The report mentions 16 community gardens are maintained across the borough, and that the RBG Advertising policy was adopted in 2022, meaning that RBG no longer accepts advertisements of foods and drinks high in fats, sugar and salt and no longer references this type of produce in social media content.

Weight Management

The council delivers integrated weight management services which supports children, young people and adults living with obesity to reduce their weight status and learn how to maintain a healthier weight.

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

The Greenwich Food System JSNA will be the first time a UK Local Authority has examined an entire food system within one JSNA. Emerging key findings from the draft JSNA include:

• Food insecurity in Greenwich is increasing
• Residents in Charlton, Shooters Hill, Middle Park, south Woolwich, and Plumstead have comparatively decreased access to both physical grocery stores and online food deliveries.
• Edible waste makes up the largest portion of both kerbside and communal residual waste (over 20.8%).
• Poorer residents are likely to pay more for their food and have higher travel costs as they must travel to multiple stores to buy their staples (called a poverty premium ).

Draft recommendations include the creation of a council-chaired food partnership with a variety of council teams, external stakeholders, and resident involvement, and the creation of a borough-wide Food Strategy.

Commissioning of Future Reports

The panel were scheduled to note the work items that are scheduled to be presented to the meeting of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel taking place on 29th January 2026. These include reports on:

• Age friendly borough
• Mental Health Vision into Action

The panel were asked to consider the scope of forthcoming reports and specify any detailed requirements.

Other Matters

The agenda [Agenda Frontsheet] also included:

• Apologies for Absence
• Urgent Business
• Declarations of Interest
• Minutes from the meeting held on 9th October 2025 [Minutes of Previous Meeting]
• Public Questions on Agenda Items [Public Questions on Agenda Items]