New Government plans to combat obesity in Britain will reward people with cinema tickets and shopping coupons as rewards for losing weight.
FitMiles is a British proposal to have Brits wear Fitbit-style devices that monitor their exercise.
It will encourage to eat healthier, reduce their portion size and increasing their daily step count.
They will receive points in return for improving their lifestyle. These points can be used to redeem vouchers or discounts for items.
Shedding pounds may soon be winning Brits £s under a new Government plan to reward exercise and healthy eating with incentives such as vouchers and cinema tickets
This new scheme is the latest antiobesity measure that Downing Street has flouted. Boris Johnson, Prime Minister, is seen here running earlier this week. He converted to ‘nanny state’ health interventions after attributing the weight gain to his time in ICU.
The Government will offer discounts on tickets to cinemas or theme parks, shopping vouchers and vouchers for clothes, food, and gym memberships.
However, one prominent commentator slammed it as a ‘waste money’ and an example of how the nanny state continues to infiltrate people’s lives.
A pilot version of this scheme will be launched in January in an yet-to-be-announced area of England. It will run for six months, before being extended to the rest.
Maggie Throup, Minister for Vaccines and Public Health, presented the scheme to MPs in Parliament today. She stated that while all adults in the area selected for the pilot would be able access the program, those who live in deprived areas will be targeted.
Ms Throup referred back to No10’s anti-obesity measures like the snack tax and said that the Government wanted reward ‘good’ behavior.
‘Obesity polices cannot be just about sticks, we must also reward healthy behaviours,’ she said.
‘If we get this right it will be good for our NHS, good for our economy, and good for our society.’
The Government is spending £3million on the scheme and has awarded the contract to health technology company Headup.
It is the latest in a series anti-obesity initiatives that No10 has launched in recent months. The Government seeks to reduce the nation’s waistline as well as its impact on our budget.
Almost two-thirds of adults in England are classified as overweight or obese, with obesity related illness costing the NHS £6billion a year.
Covid-related obesity has also been linked to a higher risk of becoming severely ill. According to government data, almost 8 per cent of severely ill Covid patients were obese, compared to 3% of the general public.
Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, claimed the Government was committed towards improving people’s healthcare and that this is why they put so much pressure on the NHS.
‘I want to ensure we’re doing as much as we can to tackle health disparities across the country, and this new pilot will pave the way for developing innovate ways to improve the lives of individuals, and also help to reduce strain on the NHS,’ he said.
“This pilot is an excellent chance to discover how to inspire people to make small lifestyle changes that will have a lasting positive effect on their health.
Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economy at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said this morning to TalkRadio that the scheme was yet another example of the slippery slope’ of interfering with people’s lives.
‘It’s £3million which is about 4p per person so at least it’s not as expensive as some of the other nanny state projects,’ he said.
‘It’s not illiberal as such, it’s just a waste of £3million.’
Labour’s shadow public health minister Alex Norris said was also critical of the scheme arguing it failed to tackle the influence of poverty on obesity.
‘Poverty limits your food choices, your exercise choices, your time,’ he said.
‘Whatever this pilot achieves, whatever the obesity strategy achieves they all get knocked into a cocked hat by the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit.
“This will encourage millions of people to choose healthier, cheaper alternatives.”
But health group Obesity Health Alliance, a group which includes royal colleges and health charities, welcomed the announcement.
Caroline Cerny, Alliance Leader, stated that the government must implement all restrictions on the food sector to improve people’s overall health.
‘It’s good to see the Government take further action to support people to be more physically active and eat more fruit and vegetables,’ she said.
“In addition to providing incentives to encourage individual behavior change, the Government must also incentivize the food industry to produce healthier products through a levy to stimulate reformulation.
The Government announced the scheme by pointing to similar schemes in Canada and Singapore, which showed that financial incentives can increase physical activity rates.
According to the Government, the app will have privacy and security “at its core”.
Since Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of Britain, attributed his weight loss to the fact that he was sent to ICU in 2020 for Covid, it has been a priority project of the Government to tackle obesity in Brits.
Other plans include banning daytime advertising for fatty foods and buying one get one junk food offer.
These health initiatives, combined with the Government’s green policies such as the plastic packaging levy, will see an extra £160 slapped on their annual shopping bill, according to industry bodies.
Earlier this year Food and Drink Federation claimed the poorest Britons will be worst-hit by the policies, seeing the price of their yearly food bills rise by 11 per cent.
The Prime Minster — once a vocal critic of Government meddling in people’s eating habits — said he had a change of heart following his near-fatal brush with Covid.
Johnson claimed that being too fat was the reason he spent last April in intensive care with the virus.
A proposal for a snack tax was included in the new National Food Strategy published by Henry Dimbleby (the PM’s food tsar), the founder of Leon restaurant chain.
Dimbleby stated that the tax will encourage companies to change their recipes and reduce portions. He said that unhealthy food was putting too much strain on the NHS, as more than half of those over 45 have diet-related health issues.
Poor diets contribute to 64,000 deaths every year in England and cost the economy an estimated £74billion, according to his report.
Chief scientific officer of FDF Kate Halliwell warned that the policy could have other consequences.
She said that a sugar and salt tax would eventually impact families who are already struggling to make ends work by making food more expensive.
“After many years of cost pressures businesses in our sector are already operating with very tight margins. Any additional costs would simply be passed on to consumers in the form of higher food price.”