NEARLY £2m is being invested in improving the health and wellbeing of Kirklees people.

Money will be ploughed into paying for community cooks who will teach people how to cook healthy food.

And £780,000 will also be spent on helping young women and people with mental health issues in workplaces.

Judith Hooper, director of public health for Kirklees NHS, said: “This programme is about getting health and wellbeing on the agenda with hard-to-reach and vulnerable people.

“The healthy cooking skills programme is being piloted at the moment, so we will soon get feedback from that.”

NHS Kirklees – formerly called the Kirklees Primary Care Trust – and Kirklees Council are joining forces to invest in schemes to help improve people’s health over the next three years.

The total investment stands at £1.9m.

The community cooks will be paid for with £150,000. The money will be ploughed into teaching cooking skills to people of all ages.

Some £300,000 will be used to identify people who need to make changes to their lifestyle and offer them advice and support.

The health organisation and council are introducing a programme which will enable tutors to run interactive healthy eating classes and demonstrations,

At first these will be for women, families and vulnerable adults in deprived communities.

Meanwhile, Government officials are looking at assessing drug and alcohol education in schools, based on the recommendations of NHS Kirklees.

The health organisation made the suggestion after discovering such assessment was missed by Ofsted inspectors.

NHS Kirklees chief executive Mike Potts said he was encouraged by a response which suggested it would be included in a report for Government ministers to consider.