Obesity

Debate between Diane Abbott and Andrew Bingham

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Westminster Hall

[Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Riordan. I congratulate the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) on securing this important debate, to which we have all been glad to contribute. He reminds us of how many issues we have in common in these British Isles.

I want to focus on the important subject of child obesity, and to talk about the responses so far to the Government’s obesity strategy entitled “Healthy lives, healthy people: a call to action on obesity in England”, which was presented to both Houses on 13 October. First, however, I want to say that some people might feel that Members of Parliament have a certain temerity talking about healthy lifestyles when their own lifestyle is relatively unhealthy, and I speak as someone who has been in this House for 20 years. Perhaps we should give credit to the few colleagues we sometimes see going through the Division Lobby dressed in their running gear after a bracing run. I am sure that Members will unite with me in congratulating those rare Members on that.

We are facing a crisis in childhood obesity. As I said earlier, gone are the days when we could look at a chubby child and say that they would grow out of it: chubby children grow into obese adults. I have to say, more in sorrow than in anger, that a wide range of people both inside and outside this House have expressed doubt about the effectiveness of the Government’s obesity strategy. Before moving on to what I think the Government should be doing, let me focus on the picture in London.

London has higher levels of childhood obesity than any other British region. The capital’s childhood obesity rate is 22%, compared with an average for England as a whole of just 19%. Across the capital, one in five youngsters are obese, with rates varying widely from 12% in leafy Richmond to 28% in Westminster. Childhood obesity costs the capital £7.1 million a year to treat, and the annual bill could reach £111 million if today’s young people remain obese into adulthood.

Research commissioned by the Greater London assembly found that adult obesity costs London £883.6 million a year, and in my own constituency—Members will forgive me for mentioning it—a quarter of all year 6 pupils are obese. That is one of the highest rates in the country as recorded by the national child measurement programme. In 2010 in City and Hackney, 13% of children in reception year were overweight and 14% were obese. The number of overweight children was similar to the national average, but the proportion of obese children was slightly higher. Greater efforts are needed to prevent overweight and obesity at the pre-school stage, because a high proportion of children are already obese and overweight by the time they start school. The escalation of the trend through to year 6 suggests that we also need to implement robust interventions in primary schools.

A number of Members have talked about parental responsibilities. I put it to colleagues that some of the parents who are doing what we might understand as the wrong thing are, in their own minds, trying to be good and vigilant parents. One of the problems that young children in Hackney and the rest of London have is their sedentary lifestyle, and part of what motivates parents to keep their children indoors is this idea of stranger danger. We all know that attacks on children have not gone up in 20 years, but childhood obesity has spiralled. Many parents—not bad or careless ones—think that they are doing their children a service by keeping them indoors, safely watching television or playing on the PlayStation, rather than playing outside.

I was not the most sporty of children, unlike some of the Government Members who have contributed to the debate, but in the summer holidays my mother thought nothing of us having breakfast and then going out to play all day. We might have come in for lunch, or have gone to a friend’s and come back for tea. Nowadays, no London parent would allow their child to play out all day without knowing where they were, and it is that sort of vigilance and possibly unwarranted fear of stranger danger that leads to many thoughtful parents deciding, perhaps because they have not had the education or do not have the understanding, that they will feel better if their children are indoors rather than outside playing.

Let us also remember that in a big city such as London a greater proportion than ever of our children live in flats, maisonettes and other accommodation without a back garden. As a child, if I was not out, I spent most of the day in the back garden, on the swing, climbing trees and shouting at my brother, but many children in my constituency are trapped in flats and it is not obvious to their parents where they can be allowed to play safely.

[Andrew Bingham]

That is a good point. We talked briefly about video games. Does the hon. Lady think that the advent of Wii Fit-type games is beneficial? I have seen young people playing them, and they involve a lot of jumping around and so on, which I suppose is a form of exercise, at least.

[Ms Abbott]

Far be it from me to advertise any particular product in this Chamber, but Wii Fit games are perhaps better than PlayStation games.