Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the prevalence of obesity among young people aged 12 to 15 is increasing or declining.

The Health Survey for England collects data on the proportion of children aged two to 15 years old who were obese by survey year from 1995 to 2016, the latest year of data available. Data is only available for the age group 11-15 years.

The prevalence of obesity among children aged 11-15 years increased from 15% to 25% between 1995-2004. Since 2005 the prevalence of obesity has remained at around 19%.

However, there was an increase in obesity among children and young people aged 11 to 15 in 2016 from the previous year, but this one-year increase does not affect the overall trend which fluctuates around 19%.