Demi
Sat, Feb-16-08, 01:36
The Telegraph
London, UK
16 February, 2008
Pupils to be paid to eat healthy food
Children who eat healthy food at school and take regular exercise could receive taxpayer-funded financial bonuses into their state savings accounts, suggests a health adviser to the (British) Government.
The payments into Child Trust Funds would leave healthy teenagers with more cash than their less fit peers when the tax-free policies mature on their 18th birthdays.
Top-ups to the so-called "baby bonds" could be made if parents ensure their children are immunised and cycle to classes.
The idea of putting regular health bonuses into Trust Funds is put forward by Prof Julian le Grand, the chairman of Health England, which advises ministers.
Prof le Grand, who lectures in social policy at the London School of Economics, is advancing a series of other ideas including that smokers should buy a licence - at £10 to £200 - to purchase cigarettes.
A former aide to Tony Blair, Prof le Grand says ministers must act now to create more imaginative, positive incentives to healthy living for all ages if a national health and obesity crisis is to be avoided.
A quarter of children are predicted to be obese by 2050, as well as 60 per cent of men and 50 per cent of women, costing the economy an extra £50 billion a year.
Recent research has shown that Child Trust Funds, which Prof le Grand helped develop, are proving popular with poorer families who are saving for their children's futures. "You could give an extra payment into the Child Trust Fund which is not a direct, crude bribe to the parents, but one that promotes the family, promotes the children and at the same time achieves several government objectives," Prof le Grand told The Daily Telegraph.
Trust Fund top-ups in return for immunisation would be easiest to administer, he said.
But it would also be a "neat solution" if healthy eating at school could be rewarded, perhaps by linking swipe cards used by pupils to buy their food to the bonus scheme. Schemes are already running in some schools where children can accrue points for choosing healthy food, fruit and vegetables at meals which be cashed in for treats such as iPods at the end of term can.
Exercise among young people could also be monitored, perhaps through pedometers or devices attached to bicycles, which would track distances covered.
While the ideas would be difficult to police, and the use of taxpayers' money would inevitably prove controversial, Prof Le Grand insisted the obstacles could be overcome. There are already more than three million young people with Child Trust Funds. The state pays in an initial £250 when the account is opened, with a further £250 if families receive full Child Tax Credit.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/16/nchildren116.xml
London, UK
16 February, 2008
Pupils to be paid to eat healthy food
Children who eat healthy food at school and take regular exercise could receive taxpayer-funded financial bonuses into their state savings accounts, suggests a health adviser to the (British) Government.
The payments into Child Trust Funds would leave healthy teenagers with more cash than their less fit peers when the tax-free policies mature on their 18th birthdays.
Top-ups to the so-called "baby bonds" could be made if parents ensure their children are immunised and cycle to classes.
The idea of putting regular health bonuses into Trust Funds is put forward by Prof Julian le Grand, the chairman of Health England, which advises ministers.
Prof le Grand, who lectures in social policy at the London School of Economics, is advancing a series of other ideas including that smokers should buy a licence - at £10 to £200 - to purchase cigarettes.
A former aide to Tony Blair, Prof le Grand says ministers must act now to create more imaginative, positive incentives to healthy living for all ages if a national health and obesity crisis is to be avoided.
A quarter of children are predicted to be obese by 2050, as well as 60 per cent of men and 50 per cent of women, costing the economy an extra £50 billion a year.
Recent research has shown that Child Trust Funds, which Prof le Grand helped develop, are proving popular with poorer families who are saving for their children's futures. "You could give an extra payment into the Child Trust Fund which is not a direct, crude bribe to the parents, but one that promotes the family, promotes the children and at the same time achieves several government objectives," Prof le Grand told The Daily Telegraph.
Trust Fund top-ups in return for immunisation would be easiest to administer, he said.
But it would also be a "neat solution" if healthy eating at school could be rewarded, perhaps by linking swipe cards used by pupils to buy their food to the bonus scheme. Schemes are already running in some schools where children can accrue points for choosing healthy food, fruit and vegetables at meals which be cashed in for treats such as iPods at the end of term can.
Exercise among young people could also be monitored, perhaps through pedometers or devices attached to bicycles, which would track distances covered.
While the ideas would be difficult to police, and the use of taxpayers' money would inevitably prove controversial, Prof Le Grand insisted the obstacles could be overcome. There are already more than three million young people with Child Trust Funds. The state pays in an initial £250 when the account is opened, with a further £250 if families receive full Child Tax Credit.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/16/nchildren116.xml