Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to prevent Type 2 diabetes in children.

There is a strong association between obesity and the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. ‘Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action’, launched in 2016, aims to prevent obesity in children and in doing so supports the prevention of Type 2 diabetes in young people.

The plan involves encouraging the food industry to cut the amount of sugar in products, as well as helping children to eat more healthily and stay active. Part of the scheme involves the sugar reduction and wider reformulation programme, which will help reduce the amount of sugar children consume.

In addition, Change4Life, Public Health England’s behaviour change social marketing campaign encourages families across England to ‘eat well and move more’.