Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on access to Tier 3 and Tier 4 NHS weight management services; and what progress he is making to resume those services.

We are aware of the impact of COVID-19 on tier 3 and tier 4 weight management services and are working closely with NHS England on our approach. As part of delivering the commitments set out in ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’, the Government announced £100 million extra funding for healthy weight programmes including specialist clinical support.

Decisions about the provision of tier 3 and 4 weight management services, along with other elective activity, will be made at a local level reflecting varying pressures on local health systems and availability of capacity, including use of the independent sector, and taking into account of the rate of recovery of elective services following the COVID-19 pandemic.