Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help people change (a) diet and (b) exercise to (i) achieve and (ii) maintain healthy BMI.

We are delivering an ambitious programme of work to create a healthier environment to help people achieve and maintain a healthy weight. New Regulations on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways, came into force in April 2022. Restrictions on the promotion by location of products high in fat, salt or sugar came into force in October 2022. We are also working with the food industry to make further progress on reformulation and ensure it is easier for the public to make healthier choices.

Local authorities and the National Health Service provide weight management services to support their communities to achieve and maintain a healthier weight. A two-year pilot backed by up to £40 million will explore ways to make National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved weight loss drugs accessible to patients living with obesity outside of hospital settings. This pilot, in conjunction with the obesity healthcare mission and its additional £20 million of Government research funding, will work together to create a continuum of support for the most promising technologies for the treatment of obesity and ensure the United Kingdom is a world-class location to trial, pilot and rollout innovation.

The Department will continue to work on cross Government strategies to help reduce inactivity levels in the population and help address health issues arising from weight related conditions. We are working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the new Sport Strategy, which will include reducing inactivity levels and provide support for access to physical activity. We are also working with the Department for Education on the School Sport and Activity Action Plan to encourage more physical activity in children and young people in and out of school and helping schools to become healthier places.

The Department has also worked on the Moving Healthcare Professionals Programme with Sport England and NHS Horizons to help embed physical activity into the healthcare system and help healthcare professionals provide physical activity advice to their patients in order to assist them with maintaining a healthy weight and the prevention and management of chronic conditions.

Our Better Health resources including free evidence-based apps and tools, support people to make and sustain changes to improve their health. These include the NHS Weight Loss app, Food Scanner App, ‘Couch to 5K’ and ‘Active 10’. Since Summer 2020, over 13 million positive actions have been taken a result of Better Health adult obesity campaigns, helping people eating more healthily and increase physical activity. The Department is also currently running ‘Better Health: Rewards in Wolverhampton’, a digital health incentives pilot that supports users to improve their physical activity and diet through financial incentives.

The Government encourages everyone to have a healthy balanced diet in line with the UK’s healthy eating model, the Eatwell Guide, which shows that foods high in saturated fat, salt or sugar should be eaten less often or in small amounts. The Government continues to promote the Eatwell Guide principles through the NHS.UK, Better Health and Healthier Families websites.

Our Major Conditions Strategy call for evidence, which closed 27 June, sought views on how the healthcare system can support people to live healthier lives, including supporting them to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.