COUNCIL chiefs have welcomed figures which appear to show progress is being made to tackle malnutrition amongst primary schoolchildren in Blackburn with Darwen - but the problem has worsened in Pendle.

Last year, the Lancashire Telegraph revealed that Blackburn with Darwen had the highest proportion of underweight Year 6 pupils in England.

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It came as Blackburn Foodbank experienced a surge in demand for emergency food parcels, with peaks during holidays when school meals are not available.

But new statistics from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show the percentage of pupils classed as clinically underweight has dropped from 66 in 2012/13 to 56 in 2013/14, which was 2.9 per cent of those measured.

This left the borough with the sixth highest proportion of underweight Year 6 pupils in the country, while Pendle’s proportion rocketed from1.4 per cent to 3 per cent, the fifth highest in the country. The rest of East Lancashire was in line with the national average.

The success of Blackburn Foodbank is likely to be a factor in the borough’s apparent improvement, but Dominic Harrison, director of public health for Blackburn with Darwen Council, pointed to several other measures being taken to address the problem.

He said: “We recognise there is more work to be done. We are reviewing the latest statistics and will be considering what further steps we need to take.

“The aim of the child measurement programme is to identify weight issues – both obesity and children who are underweight – in our population of young people so that we make sure we are doing everything possible to address them. Any child that is measured via this service will be referred on appropriately if any concerns including their weight are highlighted.”

“We want to make sure all children are able to have a healthy, balanced diet and to support this we have increased access to healthy food and cooking skills for families and supported the Recipe4Health healthy eating award scheme. We have also invested in healthy weight management programmes for young people and families.”

Pendle councillor Mohammed Iqbal, who is deputy chair of Lancashire County Council’s health scrutiny committee, said: “There are a lot of wards in Pendle where children are living in poverty and missing out on meals. Families are really struggling with the government’s austerity measures and I think this is the main factor.”