Asked by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe To ask Her Majesty’s Government
whether they have made an assessment of the benefits of yoga for
obese schoolchildren. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department of Health and Social Care (Lord O’Shaughnessy) (Con) My
Lords, while there is...Request free
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Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made an
assessment of the benefits of yoga for obese
schoolchildren.
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My Lords, while there is some evidence that regular yoga
is beneficial for people with high blood pressure, heart
disease, aches and pains, depression and stress, no
central assessment has been made of its benefits for
obese schoolchildren.
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My Lords, I am grateful for the noble Lord’s observation.
Is he aware that the largest NGO in India, the Kripa
Foundation, uses yoga as a means of attracting young drug
addicts, drunks and people with HIV into recovery? Given
the success there and the problems we have with our
current obesity plan, which fails to get into the heads
of young people—we have great difficulty in making
connections so that they can become more self-aware about
the need to take responsibility for their own
health—might we explore methods such as yoga with them?
It might be a means whereby they could take a closer look
at themselves, their problems and the opportunities they
have to make a better life in the future.
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I am not aware of the charity that the noble Lord
mentioned, although after university I spent six months
in India as a teacher. The school I taught in practised
yoga with its children and it seemed to have a calming
effect on them—which is just as well, because I am not
sure my teaching skills had such an effect. I am sure
many noble Lords know personally the benefits of yoga. It
has not been proven to have any impact on obesity,
although it has many other benefits, as the noble Lord
pointed out. It is something that schools can and do use
as part of their repertoire in the PE curriculum to
provide exercise for children, although it does not count
towards the moderate and higher levels of activity
demanded by the PE curriculum.
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Does the Minister agree that exercise does not deal with
the obesity problem at all? There is only one way of
dealing with obesity: eating less. Does he also agree
that pregnant women who are obese transfer that tendency
of obesity to their offspring by a mechanism, which we do
not understand, called epigenetics? While we are on the
subject, I congratulate the Minister on being a shining
example of controlling his measurements. I have noticed
that his waist measurement is less than half his height.
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I am wondering how my noble friend has made such an
accurate assessment. He did not see my weight on the
scales this morning. He is quite right. Of course, it is
a combination of exercise and healthy eating, which is
why there has been a push for both those things in our
schools. There are great risks to pregnant women from
being obese, not only to themselves with diabetes in
pregnancy, which tends to reappear in later life, but in
the impact on their children. That is why it is so
important that pregnant women get good advice about
healthy eating.
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My Lords, today is International Yoga Day, on which we
are about to launch the All-Party Parliamentary Group on
Yoga in Society. As with mindfulness, we will be offering
staff here on the Estate, MPs and Peers courses in seated
yoga and breathing techniques, which have other benefits
besides tackling obesity. I ask the Minister and other
noble Lords to sign up to such courses.
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My Lords, as the Minister said, there really should be an
evidence base before we pursue this too far. Does the
department know whether there are sufficient teachers
trained to teach children in yoga? Would there need to be
appropriate safeguarding?
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I am afraid I do not know whether we know that. I suspect
we do not. Yoga is an incredibly popular pastime for
children and adults. Indeed, I think there are
mother-and-baby yoga classes, which are also popular. I
am sure safeguarding concerns will always be foremost
when dealing with young children.
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Will my noble friend join me in wishing the noble Lord,
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, a very happy birthday?
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I wish the noble Lord a very happy birthday and I hope he
has done his sun salutations this morning.
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My Lords, widening the conversation, when the NHS
settlement is detailed in full, will the well-being of
schoolchildren be looked at very carefully, particularly
in relation to school nurses and the support that a lot
of young people, particularly teenagers, need in schools
and possibly are not getting sufficiently at the moment?
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The noble Baroness is quite right to raise that issue. Of
course, it is something we are looking at. I also point
to the pledge made in the children and young people’s
mental health Green Paper to dramatically increase the
number of staff on mental health support teams, which are
providing not just help for children who are in crisis or
having difficulties but well-being skills so that they do
not experience those problems in the first place.
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My Lords, my noble friend will be aware that I am an
enthusiastic advocate of the Daily Mile for
schoolchildren. With the terrifying rise in obesity among
schoolchildren, I hope it will be included in the updated
childhood obesity plan. Can the Minister give us any idea
when that plan might be coming?
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I am glad that my noble friend has highlighted that. I
can confirm that the next chapter of the plan will be
coming very shortly. We will be discussing some proposals
on the Daily Mile in that plan.
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My Lords, while yoga is undoubtedly important—although I
know nothing about it—surely there is one simple point
about childhood obesity: excessive sugar consumption, in
drinks or elsewhere. We have to tackle that much more
positively. I hope that the Government’s new plan will do
that.
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The noble Lord is quite right: it is not just sugar that
is eaten but sugar that is drunk as well. The sugar levy
has been a significant success. Half the drinks it
applied to have been reformulated to reduce their sugar,
saving 45 million kilograms of sugar being consumed each
year. We have more to do on sugar reduction beyond fizzy
drinks. We did not hit our target in the first year but
we will take further action to make sure that we do so.
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My Lords, is the Minister aware of recent research by the
Institute of Education of University College London that
shows that communal singing in primary and secondary
schools has a strong calming effect and improves
concentration, discipline and everything else, yet many
schools are losing their music teachers, leaving no one
in the school with any music qualification? I declare an
interest as a trustee of the VCM Foundation.
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I understand that the noble Lord is a member of the
parliamentary choir, so he is a living example of the
benefits of communal singing, or maybe not. I am sure he
is very tuneful. The noble Lord is quite right: singing
and, indeed, all arts are good for the soul and should be
part of the school day.
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