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 resume (a) tier 3 obesity services and (b) tier 4 obesity services that have been disrupted by the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

Decisions regarding current provision of tier 3 and 4 weight management services, along with other elective activity, are made at a local level, reflecting varying pressures on local health systems and availability of capacity, including use of the independent sector. Additional waiting list data has been made available to systems and hospitals to support restoration of services, including weight loss surgery. NHS England and NHS Improvement have facilitated access for the National Health Service to independent sector provision to maximise capacity for displaced elective cases.

Through ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’ we are delivering a range of measures on weight management, including expanding weight management services to help more people get the support they need and making conversations about weight in primary care the norm. Further details about these measures will be available shortly.