Five schools from Glasgow were invited to The Lighthouse, Glasgow, to share the views of young people on issues to do with food. The young people took part in The Glasgow Game, based on The Understanding Glasgow website which identifies twelve dimensions of life in Glasgow. These aspects are then used to initiate discussion around the key trends, concerns and differences that could be made to Glasgow.

Session four in the Symposium looks at Glasgow and Gothenburg, both are similar size with similar histories. Talk covers two areas, the health impact of school food policy and sustainable public travel. Since 2005 GCPH has been helping the council evaluate the impact of healthy school meal programmes. In primary schools, pleasant eating places are very important to pupils. In Gothenburg they use a family based approach, where the teachers eat with the pupils and all are involved in serving. No food choice is given, but they can choose how much salad to eat! Their kitchens are well resourced. Packed lunches and snacks are a problem in both places. Secondary schools are a bigger challenge. Glasgow have a project to keep S1 pupils in school over lunchtime, this has big social benefits for families. The Scottish Centre for Social Research helped with this research. Is the food that pupils buy outside school healthy? They found that local shopkeepers targeted school pupils and of 45 savoury food items analysed, the nutrition content varied widely. Recommended that all primary pupils stay on site and junior secondary school pupils are encouraged to do so. Since 2005 they have been engaged in qualitative research on how people travel using sustainable public transport. They looked at ease, safety and time. Local Authorities are not following up on promoting walking and cycling, car use is going up especially among those who can afford it. Road injuries are up in poorer areas. However cycling is increasing in Glasgow. Gothenburg has a better and more integrated public transport system and actively encourages cycling. GCPH hope that the Commonwealth Games will drive improvements in our system. In closing she noted that it is beneficial to work in partnership with other bodies on common interests and mentioned the London Health Commission. She finished by pointing out that it is a good time for an issue, mentioning how the horse meat scandal has raised awareness of food labelling standards.

On the 21st May 2013, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health held a seminar to consider the findings of a new study on the health economic benefits of cycle commuting in Glasgow. The study looked at the benefits for Glasgow residents cycling into Glasgow City Centre on a daily basis and found that in 2012 the annual benefit was around £4 million. This is likely to be an underestimate as the analysis does not take account of reduced illness and other health benefits conferred by cycling.