Local government funding issues are forcing public health leaders to be “crafty” with resources

Efforts to improve public health through encouraging physical exercise and looking at diet are being affected by cuts to local government funding, public health leaders have told MPs.

At an evidence session on 10 February for the parliamentary Health Committee’s inquiry into the effects of physical activity and diet on health, witnesses said that directors of public health had to be “crafty” with their resources.

MPs asked witnesses representing directors of public health whether their budgets were sufficient for what they wanted to achieve and whether their finances were constrained.

Dagmar Zeuner, director of public health for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, giving evidence, said, “We have been very crafty with rather humble money. The …