Eating Disorders: Prevention of Deaths

Liam Conlon Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Liam Conlon (Beckenham and Penge) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that, further to masking the scale of the crisis, excluding eating disorders as a contributing factor on death certificates also cruelly extends the pain that families feel, insinuating that otherwise healthy young people have died from organ failure?

[Mr Quigley]

I thank my hon. Friend for that important point—it does. The loss of a loved one is harrowing enough without the true cause not being recorded. That is why we are calling for a confidential inquiry into eating disorder deaths.

Given the concerns about under-reporting and inconsistencies in the data, it is even more alarming to read the findings from the Health Service Journal that revealed that between 2018 and 2023, 19 deaths related to eating disorders could have been entirely avoided. These tragic outcomes are attributed to severe failures in care, including missed or poorly managed safety risks, a lack of specialist knowledge among healthcare professionals and unacceptable delays in accessing appropriate treatment. If I were to ask for a show of hands in this room, I am sure many would be raised on that point.

--- Later in debate ---

[Liam Conlon (Beckenham and Penge) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Desmond.

I will keep this fairly brief. Many of the points I was going to raise have been mentioned, but I want to say that tackling this issue is not new, and contrast the challenges we now face under this Labour Government compared with the previous Labour Government.

I had the pleasure of working for Tessa Jowell, and I remember her telling me that as Culture Secretary one thing she focused on was banning size zero models from the catwalk at London Fashion Week, and the impact that that made on the promotion of unhealthy body images.

This week I have two students from Beckenham and Penge, Claudia and Arek, doing work experience with me, and they are here today. Speaking to them about the challenges that they and their generation face as sixth formers today, they mentioned the constant bombardment of images on social media and trends such as #SkinnyTok. Our previous Government did not have to face that, but we have to face it today.

It will be really interesting to hear from the Minister how he thinks we can, all of us, address the new emerging challenges for the new generation, where we see eating disorders and associated conditions at a record high, in no small way down to the prevalence now of social media and smartphones.