Goodbye nanny: hello nudge - the potential of the new Health White Paper Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 15:41

NIACE joins many organisations in giving a cautious welcome to the new Health White Paper: Healthy Lives: Healthy People published on 30 November.

NIACE, in particular, welcomes the government's view that a focus on health and well-being is much more than about central delivery. The role that informal adult education can play in public education campaigns, beyond the confines of the Health Service, is essential in improving the nation's health.

NIACE Programme Director, Penny Lamb, said:                                            

"We are particularly encouraged by the statement from the Secretary of State in which he said, ‘Health is not just about the quality of healthcare. It's probably at least as much about the quality of people's lives - the environment, the housing, their education and employment'."

"We now await further details of the implementation of the White Paper and its accompanying strategies, in particular, the new mental health strategy, the further support that is promised for training of Community Learning Champions and the Active at 60 grants."

"We hope that the White Paper's promise of true localism comes to fruition. Local authorities already have, as a core function, the health and well-being of their communities - adult and community learning is key to that vision in many localities. However, there is an inherent tension between the promise to free up local government and local communities to decide how best to improve the health and well-being of citizens and the proposed role of the new Directors of Public Health - we hope this is not detrimental to the vision."

"NIACE urges that the new Health and Well-being Boards include links to adult and community learning and skills for all age groups and we urge our members, in particular those in the local authority sector, to talk to elected members and senior officers to ensure that the value and links of what adult learning and skills can offer to this agenda are integrated right from the start."