Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March to Question 132947 on Obesity: Children, what criteria his Department uses to monitor progress on the delivery of the childhood obesity plan.

We will monitor change in the prevalence of childhood obesity and in the contributory factors of children’s diets and levels of physical activity through various schemes including:

- Commercially available datasets on what food is sold through larger businesses for all sectors of the food industry (retailers and out of home businesses e.g. coffee shops, takeaways, restaurants);

- The National Diet and Nutrition Survey which will continue to measure changes to children’s diets, reporting biennially;

- The National Child Measurement Programme which provides annual data on the prevalence of obesity amongst children in Reception and Year 6;

- The Health Survey for England which provides annual data on specified health conditions including overweight and obesity for all age groups including children aged two to 15; and

- A new survey commissioned by Sport England to assess children’s level of physical activity which will report annually.

In addition, Public Health England will shortly publish its first assessment of progress on sugar reduction; and the National Institute for Health Research Obesity Policy Research Unit will publish its reports on evidence and research as projects are completed.