Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on the national institute for obesity research policy unit's research into the causes of childhood obesity; and what the timetable is for that unit's findings to be provided to his Department.

The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research, is providing £5 million funding over five years for a Policy Research Unit on Obesity (OPRU). The OPRU commenced in September 2017 and the initial programme of research has been agreed and work has begun on the first set of projects, with clear timeframes for reporting to the Department. The first two to three years of planned work will concentrate on: marketing to children, tackling inequalities in childhood obesity, prevention of obesity in the early years, and supporting the evaluation of the Childhood Obesity Plan.