Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether parents and carers can choose to prevent their children from engaging in the National Child Measurement Programme.

Through the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP), children attending state schools in England in Reception aged four to five years old and Year 6 aged 10 to 11 years old have their height and weight measured.

Prior to children being measured, parents receive a premeasurement letter informing them of the programme and giving them the opportunity and option to withdraw their child if they wish. This requirement is set out in the NCMP regulations. The letter provides relevant information about the programme including which data is collected and how it is used to allow parents to make an informed decision. A child who chooses not to participate on the day is not measured.

The number of children withdrawn by their parent or carer in the 2017/18 collection year was 19,960.