Mental Health: Weight and Shape-related Bullying

Baroness Wheeler Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

The noble Baroness has a record of raising this important issue. The Government recognise that poor body image is not only a common problem but is associated with mental ill health. Approximately 70% of adolescent girls and 45% of adolescent boys want to change their body, weight or shape. As she rightly points out, in the most extreme cases, that can lead to eating disorders, depression or even feeling suicidal. The Government have delivered a broad programme of body image work over the past six years. We believe that more work can be done but we are working hard to make sure that we expand our eating disorder community care work for children and young people over the next few years. I welcome continuing the debate to see what more can be done.

[Baroness Wheeler (Lab)]

My Lords, the latest Barnardo’s report, Overcoming Poverty of Hope, showed that 69% of young people,

“feel they will have worse ‘overall happiness and mental health’ compared to their parents’ generation”,

with one young person saying that social media is “massive for mental health” because of the,

“unrealistically high expectations of body image and lifestyles”.

On top of that, the report found that,

“young people with additional life challenges, such as young carers and care leavers are more susceptible to the negative impacts of social media as they are more likely to experience social isolation”.

What are the Government doing to work with mental health charities, such as YoungMinds, and young carers to address this situation?

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

The noble Baroness is right that children exposed to persistent bullying risk experiencing these problems. This is related to the experience of face-to-face bullying, but exposure on social media can also cause the problem. That is why the Department for Education is providing over £2.8 million of funding between September 2016 and 2020 to four anti-bullying organisations—Internet Matters, the Diana Award, Anti-Bullying Alliance and the Anne Frank Trust—to support schools to tackle bullying. Of course, all schools must have in place an anti-bullying policy, which Ofsted regulates.