CHILDREN in the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area are performing just under the Fife and Scottish average in terms of weight and obesity.

Cowdenbeath Area Committee heard that all children in Fife are offered a child health programme delivered by Health Visitors and primary care teams which offer screening, support and interventions as part of a universal proportionate health programme.

Jacqueline Price, interim head of education and children's services, told councillors that Fife's Child Healthy Weight programme was developed to provide family based support where children have been identified as being overweight or obese.

Added Jacqueline: "The link between areas of deprivation and lower rates of healthy weight still persist.

"Some 61 per cent of the intensive child healthy weight one-to-one programme for 2015-2016 were with children, young people and their families living in areas of deprivation.

"The Fife figure of 77.2 per cent is better than the Scottish figure of 76.8 while the Cowdenbeath figure is 74 per cent."

Cowdenbeath and Kelty councillor Alex Campbell said: "Obesity seems to be a major Scottish problem although statistics for the UK so suggest there are problems everywhere.

"I just wonder how we can really make a real impact on reducing this figure, but I sometimes wonder what can be done."

Jacqueline Price replied: "We are working with children from a very young age but sometimes the problem can lie with the family attitudes to food.

"We work hard to educate mums and dads on what is good for their children but sometimes it does not fully work.

"It is something that work has to continue on to keep reducing the gap."