Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to
combat childhood obesity.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
and Social Care ( of North Oxford)
(Con)
My Lords, we are delivering a world-leading plan to tackle
childhood obesity. Later this summer, we will set out further
action through a prevention Green Paper. In addition, the Chief
Medical Officer is reviewing what more can be done to help us
meet our ambition of halving childhood obesity by 2030. The
review, due to report in September, will consider the approaches
taken internationally, regionally and across the country, and
will make a series of recommendations.
(Con)
My noble friend will have seen coverage in the weekend’s press of
food companies which are continuing to breach the government
advice that a child should not be weaned until six months of age.
They are also still failing to reformulate infant foods. For
example, one portion of baby porridge contains 9.4 grams of sugar
in a 24 gram portion. That of course leads to further childhood
obesity, dental decay and addiction to sugar. Can my noble friend
tell us what conversations and discussions the Government are
having with food companies, in particular Heinz, Danone and
Nestlé about reformulation and the age at which infants should be
weaned?
of North Oxford
My noble friend is a great champion on this subject and has been
an expert in it for a long period. Through the prevention Green
Paper, which is due to be published this summer, we are
determined to look at a range of further options to tackle
obesity. We have publicly committed to taking action on infant
and baby food. She will know that we are making progress on the
reformulation section of the obesity strategy. However, we have
further to go, and I am grateful to her for her Question on this
issue.
(CB)
Is it possible to consider something very clever? Rather than
accepting that the poorest among us are the ones who deal with
obesity, why do we not give them a Waitrose lunch and dinner and
subsidise it, and stop having to pay further upline in the NHS?
Why do we not start thinking globally rather than just a bit at a
time?
of North Oxford
I thank the noble Lord for his question; I hope that we can
occasionally think cleverly in government. He is absolutely right
that obesity is strongly correlated with socioeconomic
deprivation, and that is why chapter 2 of our plan tries to
target those areas that are most affected by delivering a
childhood obesity trailblazer programme, working with local
authorities to address this. They have been provided with
£100,000 in the first instance to try to improve the impact of
the childhood obesity plan. We shall see how that goes, but I am
very happy to pass on his suggestion.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister will no doubt be aware that the
British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly some time ago produced a
report on childhood obesity. Does the Minister agree, dipping
into that report, that we need not only a national strategy
but—as demonstrated to the committee in Amsterdam—a local
strategy, where the local authority can take the initiative, and
there can be education and pregnant mothers can be helped to see
their way through their own diets and therefore to help their
children? Does she agree that we need a local strategy as well,
and can the Government initiate that with local authorities?
of North Oxford
The noble Lord is quite right that the national plan must be
implemented locally. Public Health England works with local
authorities to do that and has set up a number of tools, such as
the Change4Life plan, which includes food scanners that have been
downloaded several million times to help parents and families
make better food choices. We have more to do on this, and we very
much welcome proposals to do it. I know that the Amsterdam model
has been particularly effective; indeed, my noble friend raised
this with the previous Public Health Minister, and I am sure she
will continue to raise the issue.
(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister not agree that activity is an
important part of tackling obesity? We have had some wonderful
examples of sporting success in women’s football, cricket,
netball and other activities at the moment. What are we going to
do to make sure that these examples of sporting success are fed
down to children and made available on free-to-air when possible?
of North Oxford
We should all be incredibly proud of the sporting achievements
over this weekend; we should not hesitate to do whatever we can
to promote them throughout our schools and make the most of the
moment. The noble Lord is absolutely right that regular physical
activity has been linked not only to improved physical health but
to improved mental health and academic achievement. That is why
the Chief Medical Officer has recommended 60 minutes of physical
activity every day. We know that only one in five achieve this;
that is why the money from the sugar levy is going into schools
activity. But we have more to do. We have announced the national
plan and now need to implement that effectively, and I hope that
the noble Lord will hold us up to the mark in delivering it.
(CB)
My Lords, notwithstanding the importance of anti-obesity guidance
in supporting the long-term health of the general population, is
the Minister aware of the concerns of eating disorder specialists
about its unintended consequences on those for whom “Eat less,
exercise more” is not an appropriate message? Clinicians are
reporting an increasing number of young people citing
anti-obesity guidance to justify excessive behaviours in exercise
and diet restriction. Does she agree that, while anti-obesity
policy is vital, it needs to be sufficiently nuanced that it does
not cause unintended collateral damage to these vulnerable
groups?
of North Oxford
The noble Baroness presents a sensitive and sophisticated point:
the whole point of the obesity message is that children should be
eating a healthy, balanced diet and exercising in an appropriate
way.
(Con)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that obesity will break the NHS
model if we do not do something about it?
of North Oxford
I absolutely agree with my noble friend. Obesity is a crisis that
will not only create misery for those who will then experience
increased risk of tooth decay and of diseases such as cancers,
diabetes and other severe illnesses, but it will also create
significant unsustainability within our health service, which we
are able to prevent. Since we know the tools that we have to
prevent it, we should all be working together to make sure we do.
(Lab)
My Lords, we know—and the noble Lord, , made this point—that it is the
poorest children who are obese. This is largely because their
parents buy food which is high in fat, sugar and salt, because it
is cheaper than fresh food. It may or may not be from Waitrose,
but the noble Lord makes an important point there. I have two
questions for the Minister. First, is it true that two-thirds of
the deadlines of the plans that have been put forward for the
obesity strategy have been missed? Secondly, what is the
Government’s strategy for dealing with summer hunger—those
children who will not get proper meals during the summer break?
of North Oxford
The noble Baroness is quite right to raise inequalities. This is
exactly why chapter 2 of our plan is focused on childhood obesity
trailblazer programmes, where we have identified areas of highest
deprivation to provide specific support to local authorities in
those areas. We have also recognised this issue around school
holidays: around 50,000 disadvantaged children will be offered
free meals and activities over the upcoming summer holidays,
funded by £9.1 million from the Department for Education. That
follows a successful programme last summer, which saw
improvement, with football play sessions and cooking classes for
more than 18,000 children across the country. However, the noble
Baroness is right to recognise that this is a real challenge that
we need to address.