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 ensure its Tackling Obesity Strategy does not promote crash diets.

We carefully consider all views and potential impacts of our measures to reduce obesity and its effects on individual health. This includes feedback from a wide range of experts and stakeholders on specific policy proposals and in response to our public consultations.

Public Health England and the National Health Service are supporting local areas to increase weight management services, with the aim to reach population groups most in need. This includes local implementation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines relating to obesity, which includes identification of obesity status and recommends appropriate weight management approaches to care and support individuals living with severe obesity. NICE’s guidelines on obesity assessment, identification and management are available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg189/chapter/1-Recommendations