Exclusive:Scotland's pupils should be 'banned from leaving school at lunchtime' to boost health

Dramatic interventions will have a “significant” financial cost to the public purse but are vital in improving life chances for Scots, according to Brian Whittle.

A national audit of community sports facilities, mass volunteer programmes for retirees, and mandatory numbers of primary school PE teachers are also solutions proposed to deal with Scotland’s poor health record.

Mr Whittle, a former Olympic athlete, has produced a public policy paper with the think tank Enlighten, which aims to improve mental and physical health.

“It's easy to measure the cost of spending on prevention but it’s often difficult to quantify how much isn’t spent elsewhere as a consequence,” Mr Whittle said.

He described the proposals as a “first step” on a long road to changing Scotland’s relationship with diet and physical activity.

Mr Whittle added: “The price of travel will be significant but those costs pale into insignificance when compared to the costs already being faced by our NHS, social security system and other public services, all of which bear the burden of our poor public health.”

Rather than trying to endlessly increase the supply of NHS care, the solution must come from reducing the demand for the NHS.”

In order to do this, the paper, A New Prescription: Putting prevention at the heart of public health maps out a series of proposals.

He suggests the need for a national audit of community sports facilities and a new model for funding sport, saying the current government model is not “credible or constructive”.

Since 2011, the number of teachers whose principal subject is PE has fallen by 44 per cent, from 189 to 104.

In schools, Mr Whittle says a mandatory minimum of specialist primary school PE teachers per head should be set.

The public sector should be incentivised to procure locally sourced nutritious food and to then cook it on site, following a model used in Ayshire.

He also advises that breakfast clubs are expanded for primary aged pupils, saying morning clubs present a “major opportunity” to grow young people’s horizons.

Mr Whittle suggests making free breakfast available alongside activities such as sports, art, drama, or coding, “giving pupils an outlet and encouraging them to be active and socialise”.

“This model has the additional benefit of removing any stigma around pupils accessing free meals as the breakfast club becomes about the activity first and the food second,” he said.

“A balanced breakfast has also been shown to improve focus and boost academic performance within the classroom.

“Additionally, there are wider physiological benefits through moderated metabolism and regulation of appetite for school-aged children, both of which impact mood and behaviour.”

Mr Whittle’s intervention comes weeks after it was revealed that healthy life expectancy for people in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level in nearly a decade.

Figures from the National Records of Scotland show women can expect 60 years of good health while men can expect just 59.6 years.

Data published by the country’s national archive said the drop in the average predicted years of good health may be driven by worsening health in younger people.

Longevity has been falling in Scotland over the past decade and is now lower than in England by around 18 months.

Enlighten’s Director Chris Deerin referred to Scotland’s health record as “notoriously poor, with data regularly placing us at or near the bottom of the charts across the west”.

He added: “For many years, politicians have talked about the need for a focus on prevention of ill-health, allowing people to live healthier lives for longer and reducing the strain on the NHS.

“Despite the talk, we haven’t made anything like the progress required.

“The ideas contained in this paper suggest innovative ways in which Scotland’s health record might be improved, with positive consequences for us all.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said ensuring children and young people are physically active is a "key priority".

She said: “Active Schools delivery receives £13 million annual funding while all pupils receive around two hours of PE a week.”

“We want to ensure a more affordable, inclusive and sustainable sports facilities estate that provides enhanced opportunities and removes barriers for people to take part and have asked Sportscotland to undertake a review of sporting facilities to better understand current provision," she added.