Obesity costs around £1bn a year

Summary

The Committee of Public Accounts, in their report ‘Tackling Child Obesity - first steps’ (HC 156), set out a number of conclusions and recommendations on tackling child obesity.

Child obesity in the UK is increasing, with a steady rise in the number of children aged 2-10 who are obese from 9.9% in 1995 to 13.4% in 2004. Overall, it is estimated obesity already costs around £1 billion a year and the UK economy a further £2.3 to £2.6 billion in indirect costs.

The Committee suggests that the Public Service Agreement target set by three Government Departments (Health, Education, and Culture, Media and Sport) needs to improve in both their responses to this matter and leadership.

Conclusions and recommendations include:

The delivery chain for tackling child obesity, which involves 26 different bodies, is over-complex and needs clear measures to judge performance and contribution
Parents need to be engaged with this project, with high profile messages and advice readily available outlining the risk of obesity
The Department of Health's national programme to measure children for obesity in the primary schools of England should have a mechanism in place for informing individual parents if their child is obese
With a two year delay between the Health Survey for England and the publication of results, Departments should use annual data from weighing and measuring in schools to gauge performance in tackling obesity
The Departments should encourage the growth in the retail market for healthy food and drink for children Ofcom should liaise with Departments to monitor and assess its new restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy foods
There is scope for encouraging children to lead more active lifestyles, with local authorities and schools providing more public facilities, in the 2003-04, 72 playing fields were created against 52 lost, while 131 swimming pools were opened against 27 closed.

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Law-Making Explained

This is a House of Commons Paper (HC 156): it is a report from the Committee of Public Account.

Find out more about House of Commons Papers.

How does it affect me?

If you have a child or work with children in the education or health sectors, this affects you.

Obesity already costs around £1 billion a year and the UK economy a further £2.3 to £2.6 billion in indirect costs, and the number of obese children in the UK is growing.

Read more from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on encouraging the take-up of sport by children and young people.

See dates and topics of future Committee of Public Accounts meetings.