ABSTRACT
In local government the health agenda is increasingly seen as part of the wider wellbeing agenda, and this is helping to move it from a separate silo to the centre of thinking about economic regeneration, skill development, educational performance and community cohesion. The power to promote the wellbeing of local people may have been introduced in the Local Government Act 2000, but it has only been in the last couple of years that its significance has begun to be recognised more widely within the local government sector. Often health improvement through local government was almost a by-product of action to achieve other objectives such as improved educational performance, lower levels of fuel poverty or increased involvement in leisure activities. In 2003 individual councils could choose whether they signed up to the Shared Priority pledge on health improvement negotiated between the Local Government Association and central government.
