BETTER communication with schools will be the key to combatting child obesity in Oxfordshire, councillors have said.

Members of Oxfordshire County Council’s Health Improvement Partnership Board met yesterday to discuss a 17-point action plan released by the government in August to combat the issue.

In Oxfordshire about 15 per cent of year 6 children are obese.

Chairwoman Anna Badcock welcomed the fact that Ofsted inspectors will keep an eye on how well schools promote healthy eating and sport.

She added: “It makes a huge difference. Sometimes what schools put on their websites is not what’s happening.”

Dr Jonathan McWilliam, the county’s director of public health, said: “One of the big questions is how to talk to schools in an effective manner.

“What we are in danger of is creating an inequality between the schools with willing headteachers and ones without.”

Healthy breakfast clubs, 60 minutes of physical activity a day and advising parents on healthy eating are some of the measures schools will be encouraged to take up over the next 10 years.

Councillor Ed Turner said there was some ‘frustration’ in the room on the difficulty engaging with schools, adding: “It would be nice if there was more strategy co-ordination.”