Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will commission research on the reasons for recent increases in the prevalence of diabetes in the UK.

There are no specific plans to commission research on the reasons for recent increases in the prevalence of diabetes in the United Kingdom.

Type 2 diabetes constitutes 90% of all diabetes. It is already recognised that the increasing prevalence of Type 2 diabetes is being driven by the increasing prevalence of obesity and unhealthy lifestyles. We also know that intensive lifestyle management programmes, that focus on behavioural change and weight loss, physical activity and improved nutrition, can reduce the incidence of Type 2 diabetes in those at high risk of the condition by up to 60% over three years. That is why we are implementing these interventions at scale as part of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.

There are also increases in the prevalence of Type 1 diabetes, the causes of which are unclear, although there are many lines of research currently being undertaken around the causes of Type 1 diabetes.