Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of obesity in children (a) nationally and (b) in York.

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) collects data on children aged four to five years old in Reception and 10 to 11 years old in Year 6. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes national and local level data on Fingertips. For children aged four to five years old, the prevalence of obesity in England was 10.1% and 8.9% in York in the academic year 2021/22. For children aged 10-11 years old the prevalence of obesity in England was 23.4% and 18.9% in York in the academic year 2021/22.

NCMP is a surveillance programme providing trend data on childhood weight status. It is not a screening programme. However, local authorities can choose to notify parents of their children’s measurements. When a child is identified as living with obesity, a tailored feedback letter provides a parent with information about local healthy lifestyle and child weight management services available. They may also be invited to contact the school nursing team to discuss their child’s growth and support available.