Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has made an assessment of the role played by youth clubs and extra-curricular clubs in tackling childhood obesity.

The Government published a Childhood Obesity Plan for Action in August 2016, which can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action

This plan states that for all primary school children, at least 30 minutes of physical activity should be delivered in school every day through active break times, Physical Education (PE), extra-curricular clubs, active lessons or other sport and physical activity events.

The Plan also announced the development of a new healthy rating scheme for primary schools which will be launched in September 2017. This scheme will demonstrate to parents the steps that schools are taking to offer a healthy environment to pupils. It is expected that this will include the contribution made by extra-curricular clubs.

Public Health England is developing a toolkit to support local authorities to reduce childhood obesity. This will include advocacy materials to demonstrate how action can be taken across many different local authority responsibilities including youth clubs and other children’s services provision.

Through the primary PE and sport premium, the Government has invested over £600 million of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013.

In addition, revenue from the soft drinks industry levy will be used to double the primary PE and sport premium to £320 million a year from September 2017.