I am convinced that this is a valuable aim for any Welsh Government – not only does it have obvious benefits in terms of reducing health expenditure and tackling obesity and diabetes, but it also leads to happier citizens. Work has been done that links the quality of public health with benefit claims.  I am also convinced that decent food and regular exercise encourage children to behave better in schools. Freedom is hardly attainable if health is poor and therefore opportunity is harmed.

A recent report has shown that public health legislation would benefit substantially with full-lawmaking powers as it would be possible to develop a more strategic approach to policy-making. Likewise, the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing ministerial portfolio is so big that a dedicated Deputy Minister to oversee public health issues could provide a new approach.

Tackling bad eating habits, by which I mean just a poor choice of diet rather than eating disorders, must begin with youth. That is one of the reasons why Jenny’s measure is so important; it aims to encourage good eating habits for school age children It’s is also why free hearing and eye tests are available to school children. But tackling health issues is also about encouraging behaviour change for people who have gotten into bad habits, such as eating too much salt or not eating five-a-day.

Frankly, advertising campaigns won’t cut it by themselves. They work, but only for people, like me, who flick between bad eating habits and good eating habits based on what is in the fridge, how much they drank last night and how guilty they feel about their eating habits. GPs should be able to refer people with bad eating habits to dieticians or offer advice themselves.

Any approach to improving public health also has to take account of the need for exercise. There are hundreds of policy ideas floating around that promote exercise, but I want to look at allowing people to keep fit as part of their everyday life.

In the last election, the Welsh Liberal Democrats promised to establish a cycling demonstration town somewhere in Wales and this could easily promote, in one area, a huge uptake in cycling. The aim was to roll this out as funding allowed. Giving towns and cities the funding to make cycling easier will be the key to encouraging cycling amongst the Welsh people.

Likewise, I believe that the Welsh Government needs to hurry up with its stated commitment to “link up cycle routes on an all-Wales basis.” I also believe that all new developments, whether commercial, residential or retail should have some sort of safe cycle storage.

Similar arguments exist for encouraging walking as a means of transport. I do not own a car, and have very little choice in the matter, but simply by erecting security fences, improving lighting and repairing footbridges and tunnels we could allow people to feel safe as they walked from one place to another.

This, of course, is a matter for the notoriously complex processes of the planning system. There have been attempts in the National Assembly to take control of cycling and walking routes and major development travel plans. These should be pursued so that we can develop an approach that suits Wales and one that allows people to cycle or walk across their communities easily.

Finally, it is important to remember that a liberal approach to public health is based on informing people, not controlling people. This means that people should be allowed to eat junk and do nothing, but they should be aware that doing so is probably not optimal for their health. More importantly, the state needs to be sympathetic to people who don’t always manage to eat well or exercise regularly.

The National Assembly can play a key role in developing policy that will help make sure that people who live here are healthier. It isn’t a panacea for health funding or for freedom of opportunity, but that doesn’t make it an unworthy aim by itself.

UPDATE (18.00): Jenny Randerson’s Measure has just been approved by the National Assembly, making it the first ever private member’s Measure passed.

Ben Lloyd is the Policy Officer for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, he writes in a personal capacity.

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