Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to mitigate the effect of high levels of obesity on NHS services.

The Government has outlined steps to halve childhood obesity rates by 2030 through cutting sugar from half the drinks on sale, funding more opportunities for children to exercise in schools, and working with councils to tackle child obesity locally through ground-breaking programmes.

It is also critical to understand how different factors, including obesity, could be disproportionally impacting how people are affected by COVID-19.

Public Health England launched a review into the factors affecting health outcomes from COVID-19, to include ethnicity, gender and obesity. This will be published by the end of May.

As outlined in the United Kingdom Government’s Recovery Strategy, the Government is committed to investing in preventative and personalised solutions to ill-health, empowering individuals to live healthier and more active lives, which will help to mitigate pressures faced by NHS services.