Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what prior assessment his Department made of the implications for its policies on tackling obesity of its decision to suspend £100 million of funding for local authority and NHS commissioned weight management services.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The decision to reprioritise funding for healthy weight activities was taken following consideration of options to meet the ongoing financial challenges of COVID-19 within existing budgets.
On 6 April 2022, new Regulations on out of home calorie labelling came into force and new legislation on restricting the promotion and advertising of unhealthy food and drink will be implemented in due course.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has held discussions with schools on the potential merits of including in the curriculum learning on veganism, fast fashion and climate change.
Answered by Robin Walker
Education has a critical role to play in giving all children and young people the knowledge and skills they need to create a greener, more sustainable world, and to tackle both the causes and impact of climate change.
The national curriculum framework sets out the minimum content that schools are expected to teach in each subject. Topics relating to climate change are already taught in subjects such as geography, science and citizenship. Teachers have the flexibility to cover topics in greater depth where they deem it appropriate, including topics such as veganism and fast fashion.
Pupils are taught about healthy eating through the statutory health education curriculum. They should know what constitutes a healthy diet, the characteristics of a poor diet, and risks associated with unhealthy eating, including for example, obesity and tooth decay. Schools are free to teach about the benefits of a vegan diet if they wish to do so.
Healthy eating and opportunities to develop pupils’ cooking skills are also covered in the design and technology (D&T) curriculum. Cooking and nutrition is a discrete strand of the D&T curriculum and is compulsory in maintained schools for key stages 1 to 3. The curriculum aims to teach children how to cook, with an emphasis on savoury dishes, and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. We have also introduced a new food preparation and nutrition GCSE to provide pupils with practical cookery experience and teach them about the underlying scientific concepts of nutrition and healthy eating.
As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver these subjects, and are able to go into further depth into subjects such as veganism should they wish. Schools can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
The department has established a unit devoted to climate change and sustainability, and at COP26, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education presented a draft Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for the Education and Children’s Services. This strategy set out key action to drive excellence in climate education including professional development for science teachers, a model Primary Science Curriculum, and free access to quality teaching resources.
While refining this strategy for publication in April 2022, the unit engaged widely with young people, expert bodies, teachers, and unions. The inclusion of topics connected to climate change and sustainability across the curriculum has been discussed with relevant parties at length. The finalised version of this strategy was published on 21 April 2022.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to inform the public about the consequences of rising diabetes levels.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Obesity is the single greatest risk factor to developing type 2 diabetes, which can lead to associated conditions such as diabetic foot ulcers and diabetic retinopathy. The Better Health adult obesity campaign was launched in July 2020, highlighting the harms of excess weight and providing motivation to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. The campaign directs the public to a range of free online tools and support, including the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, the National Health Service weight loss plan app, local authority healthy lifestyle services and discounted offers from healthy weight partners. Primary care providers also support individuals in accessing weight management programmes, including the Diabetes Prevention Programme, depending on their risk factors.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medical intervention policies are based on Body Mass Index.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information requested is not collected centrally. We would expect clinical commissioning groups to base their policies on relevant National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines, published research and appropriate good practice.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the level of increase in public health funding needed by local authorities to clear the backlog in demand for public health services due to the covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. Analytical work to support the 2021 Spending Review included consideration of the impact of COVID-19 as part of a range of potential pressures on local authorities’ public health services. The Public Health Grant to local authorities will be maintained in real terms over the Spending Review period. We also announced additional investment to tackle obesity and improve the Start for Life offer available to families, with further funding committed to deliver the drugs strategy.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the finding in the National Child Measurement Programme for England in the 2020-21 school year that children living in the most deprived areas were more than twice as likely to be obese than those living in the least deprived areas, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of her Department's policies on child obesity.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We are delivering a programme to create a healthier environment to help children and adults achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Over £4.4 million was allocated to 11 local authorities to deliver child and family weight management services, for children identified as overweight or living with obesity through the National Child Measurement Programme.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to provide support to people with eating disorders; and what steps he plans to take to tackle obesity while supporting people with associated eating disorders.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We have invested an additional £79 million in 2021/22 to expand children’s mental health services, including allowing 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services. We also invested an additional £58 million in 2021/22 to support adult community mental health services, including eating disorders. This additional investment supplements existing plans to expand and improve mental health services, including eating disorder services, as set out in the NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20-2023/24.
We have considered the views of mental health charities and experts as we developed our plans for implementing the Healthy Weight Strategy. This includes feedback from a wide range of experts in response to our public consultations on specific policy proposals.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of Tier 3 Weight Management Services in tackling rising levels of childhood obesity.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We are committed to ongoing evaluation of the impact of weight management services. The National Obesity Audit, due to be launched in 2022, will collect patient level information and analyse robust comparative data from the different types of services which support people to manage their weight. This will include assessment of the efficacy of children’s tier 3 weight management services.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients are waiting for NHS Tier 3 and Tier 4 Weight Management Services; and what the average wait time is for those services.
Answered by Maggie Throup
NHS England and NHS Improvement does not routinely collect or publish data on the number of patients waiting for Tier 3 or 4 services or their average wait times; however, NHS England and NHS Improvement has sought data on this, which is currently being finalised.
The pandemic has delayed access to Tier 4 services, as with other elective surgeries, due to service providers being redeployed to support the COVID-19 response. NHS England and NHS Improvement has worked with Integrated Care Systems to develop regional recovery plans for Tier 3 and Tier 4 specialist weight management services. Funding has been provided to systems to support the implementation of these plans.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to encourage an increase in GP referrals to medical weight loss clinics.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The government has invested £20.4 million in the Weight Management Enhanced Service in 2021/22, which supports general practitioners (GPs) to refer individuals to Weight Management Services. The Department have published training for primary care staff to become Healthy Weight Coaches, who facilitate conversations about weight, signpost and refer people to services, and offer support. We are also working closely with the Royal College of General Practitioners to understand how to further support GP referrals to weight management services.