National Child Obesity Strategy Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Hunt of Kings Heath
Main Page: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Hunt of Kings Heath's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(6 years, 6 months ago)
Lords ChamberI reassure the noble Lord that the national curriculum, through PSHE, includes elements around nutrition and healthy eating. Indeed, many schools offer the kind of classes he is talking about.
My Lords, I refer the noble Lord to your Lordships’ Select Committee on the Long-Term Sustainability of the NHS, which said that the Government,
“should not cite unwillingness to behave as a ‘nanny state’ as an excuse for inaction on the major public health issues, including obesity”.
If the study that is being undertaken at the moment shows that outcomes are poor, will the Government move from their current voluntary approach to take more decisive action?
The point here is that we know that these are difficult decisions and, of course, children have decisions made on their behalf by their parents, people in schools and others, so there needs to be a combined approach of statutory action and voluntary action. We should applaud the voluntary action that many people have taken—supermarkets, food producers and others—but clearly there is a continued role for the Government and I do not think questions of nanny statism come into it.