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Dudley Council spent £3k sending obese child to fitness camp

A council has spent almost £3,000 sending an obese child to a fitness camp, it has emerged.

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Dudley Council sent the unnamed child, aged between 11 and 16, for help last year.

The council is the only one in Birmingham and the Black Country to commission a fat camp.

Dudley's health boss today said it only happened in 'exceptional circumstances' and following necessary health checks.

A total of 760 children in Year 6 are classified as obese in the borough. In reception, 363 children are obese. The figures were worked out from the National Child Measurement Programme.

Councillor Rachel Harris, cabinet member for health, defended the council's spending.

She said: "We run a range of services aimed at preventing obesity in children of all ages.

"We find that tackling the issues that lead to obesity is cheaper and more sensible in the long run.

"This is about enabling a lifestyle change to prevent long term health conditions and future pressures on health services. We also provide full support to the family including nutritional and healthier lifestyles advice.

"Only in exceptional circumstances, and following medical checks to identify any underlying health issues, would we take the step of referring a child to a focussed camp.

"We also work with the family on longer term changes to help when the child returns home, which has proven extremely successful. We also offer food and physical fitness workshops and activity days in schools which has also proven very successful."

In a health profile for Dudley published by Public Health England last year, 22.7 per cent of children in Year 6 were classified as obese.

Obesity is commonly linked to deprivation. The profile reported there are 13,095 children in the borough living in poverty, 22.8 per cent.

The profile also showed 51.6 per cent of adults were physically active, while 27.8 per cent of adults were obese.

The annual cost of inactivity in Dudley has been put at £24.7million. The costs are added up for treating obese and overweight people.

Last year the borough came 33rd in a table of 326 local authorities in England for the proportion of residents being overweight or obese.

Last year, Dudley Council took over the responsibility for the health and wellbeing of its residents with the establishment of the Dudley borough health and wellbeing board.

The council's aim is to halt the rising tend in obesity and encourage people to live healthier lifestyles.

It has set an aim of bringing down childhood obesity to 18.5 per cent by 2020.

One way of doing this has been to revamp school meals with national nutritional standards brought in.

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