Local Area Agreements

Local authorities, supported by the Food Standards Agency and industry, have contributed to a 19.2% reduction in foodborne illness from 2001–2006. This equates to 1.5 million fewer cases, saving the economy £750 million, and reducing hospital admissions by 10,000.

What we eat also affects our health. Diet is thought to play a role in about a third of all deaths from cancer and coronary heart disease. Many local authorities are working with the Agency on salt reduction initiatives as a diet high in salt can lead to high blood pressure, and those with high blood pressure are three times more likely to develop heart disease and twice as likely to die from it than those with normal blood pressure levels. Yearly, this contributes to more than 170,000 deaths in England alone.

Local authorities play a leading role in local strategic partnerships and with their partners can make healthy eating a major part of their local health imrovement programmes. Their approach to food procurement, provision, regulation, advice and promotion, and their well established links with local food businesses and communities can make a lasting difference to community health and well-being.

The Agency has a number of websites aimed at improving people's access to healthy and safe food:

Eat well, be well
See our eatwell website for consumer advice and information about healthy eating, understanding food labels, food safety tips and how what we eat can affect our health.

Reducing salt
See our dedicated salt campaign website for information on why too much salt is bad for your heart and for details of some local initiatives on salt reduction being taken forward by local authorities and others.

Food Vision
See the Food Vision website for information on improving community health and well-being by promoting safe, sustainable and nutritious food. This is a joint project by the FSA, Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services and the Local Government Association.

Hygiene legislation advice
See information and resources on hygiene legislation, including Safer food, better business.

A thriving food and drink industry not only plays an important role providing affordable healthy and safe food, but makes a significant contribution to economic prosperity and development. Our research shows consumers are increasingly looking for healthier food choices, and of course safer food is better business.

See the results of our annual consumer surveys.

From farm to fork, local authorities provide opportunities for partnerships between local authorities, Primary Care Trusts, business and the voluntary sector. This approach is already intrinsic to many LAAs. The Agency provides information and support to local authorities and their partners to advance their food and health agendas.

National guidance
Following the successful East Midlands initiative below, the Agency's Regional Unit has worked with the local authorities national co-ordinating body LACORS to produce a national guidance document about LAAs and food and health. The guidance can be found at the link below.

East Midlands: partnership workshops on food and health
The Agency's East Midlands office and emphasis (the East Midlands Public Health Network) ran a series of county-wide partnership workshops on food and health during March 2007. The workshops aimed to build understanding and raise awareness of the roles played by the different individuals and organisations working across the region, who have a role in ensuring that people have access to a safe and healthy diet.

The workshops provided the opportunity to discuss ways of working better together, and to begin the process of developing new partnership projects and programmes for the future. It has resulted in some joint partnership activities making better use of local resources and expertise.

Guidance about some organisations and teams working on the food and health agenda in the East Midlands can be found at the link below.

More information about the Regional Unit, which heads up Agency teams working out of the Government offices for the regions, including the East Midlands, can be found at the link below.