Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the prevalence of child obesity and (b) whether there is a correlation between child obesity and deprivation; and what steps his Department is taking to address that issue.

We know obesity rates in children are far too high and children in lower income groups are more likely to be obese than the rest of the population, but it is an issue across all groups.

Tackling obesity, particularly in children, is one of our major priorities. Progress has been made in recent years, but we know we have much further to go. We will announce our plans for tackling childhood obesity in the new year.