Welcome news in report on health behaviour of school age children

There was plenty of encouraging news in the recently-released Welsh Government report into health and wellbeing patterns in school-age children in Wales.

The ‘Health Behaviour in School-Age Children’ report, which involved extensive surveys of thousands of children across Wales, suggested a sharp fall in the number of Welsh teenagers smoking and drinking since the 1990’s, and evidence of improving self-rated health and engagement with support networks at home and in school.

There were also plenty of positive stories emerging from the report on a local level. For example, I was particularly pleased to see that the Aneurin Bevan Health Board area – which includes Newport West – had one of the highest proportions of children in Wales who walk or cycle to school. Our area also has the best indicators of positive teacher-pupil relations in Wales.

The full report is available to read online at: http://gov.wales/newsroom/healthandsocialcare