Obesity

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

It is a privilege to speak under your chairmanship, Mrs Riordan. I am delighted to have secured the debate. I have come to notice, particularly with health-related issues, that an hon. Member may think they are well informed on a topic when they succeed in securing a debate, but once they have succeeded in securing it, the administrative back-up kicks in and all the groups involved start supplying them with significant amounts of promotional material, and they are even more well informed by the time the debate arrives. I thank all the groups involved with this issue for providing me with information.

Sometimes it is wise to start a very serious debate with a slightly humorous anecdote. I am reminded of the overweight gentleman who was sent along to his local well man clinic by his wife, as men are wont to be. She instructed him to go to the well man clinic and to come back with precise instructions on what he was to do to lose weight. When he came back with a smile on his face, his wife said, “There’s something wrong here. What exactly were you told?” He said, “Well, I’m exactly the right weight—for someone who is 7 foot 8.” Unfortunately, that encapsulates part of the problem.

A sedentary lifestyle is not only costing those members of society who are overweight very dearly; it is costing all of us exceptionally dearly. From the correspondence that I have had and my own research, it appears that obesity currently costs us—depending on whom we believe—between £4 billion and £7 billion a year directly and indirectly. Whichever figure is right, the reality in 2011 is that we are talking about an exceptionally expensive but preventable series of conditions. The situation is bad at the moment, but unless we take radical steps and measures, unless we do something fundamental—I will come to that later—the rates of obesity are likely to double in the next 30 years.

Currently, almost one third of children are overweight, so obesity is not a condition that is the preserve of either the elderly or the middle-aged. All of us in society, right across the age spectrum, are being affected. Only 20 years ago, people who visited America—perhaps somewhere such as Florida—would come back here and say, “The United States has a terrible obesity problem. Thankfully we will never be like that.” But we are, and things are likely to get worse.

For example, 25 years ago, about three quarters of schoolchildren walked or cycled to school; now, less than 10% do so. When giving that figure, I take into account the fact that there have been lifestyle changes, school closures and so on, but the fact remains that there has been a significant increase in sedentary lifestyles. There has been a change in attitudes. The unfortunate reality is that more and more of us are spending more and more time at desks, in front of computers. Many people become couch potatoes—unfortunately, that analogy is all too accurate.

I will give another statistic to show how things have got considerably worse. In the early 1980s, roughly 7% of the population were classed as overweight. That ratio has trebled in the past 30 years. We can see the trend. It is likely to double again in the next 30 years. We must get to grips with a problem that, as I said, is proving exceptionally expensive for us all.

Obesity is linked to socio-economic deprivation. The figures that I have been able to establish indicate that the ratio of children in lower-income households suffering from obesity is twice that of those in higher-income households. Again, we see the repetitive nature of the problem, the cyclical response that is indicative, because many obese children are, unfortunately, the children of either one obese parent or two.

Of course, we all know of the additional and subsequent health risks associated with this condition. We are all aware that heart attacks and strokes, coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes are much more likely among the overweight. There is an additional cost further down the line, in years to come, as people who begin to be overweight today begin to show the symptoms of those other conditions only in years to come and then of course have to be treated by the NHS.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Type 2 diabetes is one of those hidden diseases that some people do not know they have. The indications are that there will be a 50% increase in the number of diabetics in the next couple of years. Does my hon. Friend believe that diabetes itself needs a direct Government plan in order for that issue to be addressed, because it is a hidden disease that can kill?

[Mr Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I hope that the Minister will respond to it. I want to come on to some of the things that Health Ministers throughout the United Kingdom—in the devolved regions as well as here—can do to deal with the issue, but my hon. Friend’s point is certainly well made.

Having diagnosed the problem, as it were, I want to consider what is being done. It is not all negative. A considerable series of measures is being taken, not just nationally but locally. Various councils, various health trusts in Northern Ireland and other bodies are actively engaging in trying to come to terms with the problem. Many programmes that promote healthier food choices are being actively promoted. I am aware of the healthy eating awards, and of course we are all aware of the food labelling issues that have come to the fore in recent years. There have been other programmes aimed at reducing the salt, sugar and fat in some foods. All those things are creating greater awareness among the wider community, but we are fooling ourselves if we think that the measures currently in place will arrest the problem.

I will turn at this point to what needs to be done now and for the foreseeable future. Obviously, the fast food industry is a key player in relation to the problem. Some people in that industry are quite responsible. Some have responded to the campaigns driven locally and introduced more healthy eating options—they are to be commended for doing so—but some have not. We need to see best practice not just nationally but internationally being analysed and then promoted, so that we can see significant progress.

At the moment, there is—certainly in Northern Ireland, and I assume across the UK—a better educational approach in schools. Our young children, particularly primary school children, are now getting information that simply would not have been proper protocol 25 years ago. Many people then would not have even seen the need for primary school children to receive that type of education. That is changing, but again, more needs to be done to increase awareness. We have all seen issues where, for example, healthy eating has gone wrong. Sometimes we see photographs in newspapers that show parents queuing up to give other types of food to children because healthy eating standards have gone awry. We need to ensure that the whole educational process about healthy eating for children is properly assessed and rationally implemented.

When we ally the fast food sector—I do not want to name any of the organisations—with a sedentary lifestyle, I think we can account for 80% to 90% of the obesity problem.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman’s point about a sedentary lifestyle is important. The Welsh health survey 2008 showed that 21% of the population in Wales were obese. Does he agree that encouraging people to exercise and to avoid the sedentary lifestyle that he is talking about is important to reduce the alarming obesity rates, in addition to eating more healthily?

[Mr Campbell]

I agree with that; I was just about to come to the issue of exercising. I love walking, and when I get the time to walk, as I try to weekly, I despair at the rarity of seeing other people walking and exercising.

[Jim Shannon]

Surely, my hon. Friend does not just walk; he marches. When someone marches, they lose more calories, and I understand that he marches often.

[Mr Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for bringing us back to basics with a Northern Ireland and Scotland perspective on that. That is true.

I do despair when, for example, I see very few people exercising between October and March or April, and even fewer children.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman will be aware, as I am, that part of the problem lies in the Department for Education, not the Department of Health. One of the obstacles to kids exercising is that teachers do not want to take them out of the classroom because of the raft of health and safety obstacles in the way. We need to address that in this Chamber as much as we do the health aspects.

[Mr Campbell]

I knew that the dreaded health and safety would come in at some point, and I am glad that the hon. Gentleman managed to get it in. I agree with him totally. Many teachers, administrators and principals would dearly love to get their children to exercise more, but they know that all the dreaded health and safety boxes have to be ticked.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. I shall encourage him by telling him that I have started to walk; it has not made a lot of difference, but I have started to do it.

Surely fast food outlets have a responsibility in their marketing tactics, which offer “buy one, get one free”. That needs to be addressed.

[Mr Campbell]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I hope the Minister will respond to that. I know that a small number of fast food outlets in Northern Ireland have acted responsibly, but unfortunately they are a small number. It appears that the behemoth of consumerism will simply market and promote the message of “stack them high and sell them cheap.” We have to come to terms with that reality, because it is driving many people to an early grave—it is as serious as that. In 2011, many in the younger generation are not only overweight, but will be diagnosed in 20 years’ time with health conditions that could shorten their lifespan by up to 10 or 12 years, unless we get to grips with the problem.

There is, as the hon. Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart) indicated, an educational and health problem. It is for all of us in society to promote a healthier lifestyle. That is where I think we can do more to get role models to do what they can to promote healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. Some role models, unfortunately, do anything but promote a healthy lifestyle, but we need to ensure that more suitable role models are approached and asked to try to promote such a lifestyle, so that we can address this horrendous and difficult problem.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate.

Does my hon. Friend agree that although good progress on the issue has been made on a voluntary and self-regulatory basis, the time has come for more legislation? We have seen that approach with the compulsory wearing of seat belts and the banning of smoking in public places, which was resisted on all sorts of grounds. That approach has had a beneficial effect on health and public safety. Is it not time for the Government to go further in forcing food and drink companies to act more responsibly?

[Mr Campbell]

I agree with my right hon. Friend. We also need to look at the cost of products on supermarket shelves. Again I refer to some of the correspondence that has come my way. Fizzy drinks are quite attractive to younger people, and to some who are not so young. Is it fair that their low-calorie equivalents, some of which contain one calorie, and the fully fizzed-up versions, which can contain 139 calories, cost virtually the same?

A range of approaches needs to be co-ordinated and best practice needs to be introduced. I hope that the Minister will be able to speak about the devolved Health Ministers, with whom I hope he will have discussions about the best way to promote best practice and to ensure that, wherever practical and possible, close co-ordination can take place, so that across Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland we can begin to address and—I hope—reverse this horrendous and difficult problem.