Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's report, Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives, published on 27 July 2020, what assessment his Department has made of the potential cost savings to the public purse of (a) specialist weight management clinicals provided by multidisciplinary teams and (b) bariatric surgery for patients with severe and complex obesity being routinely introduced; and if he will make a statement.

‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’ demonstrates an overarching campaign to reduce obesity, takes forward actions from previous chapters of the childhood obesity plan and sets our measures to get the nation fit and healthy, protect against COVID-19 and protect the National Health Service.

Through the strategy we are delivering a range of measures on weight management, including expanding weight management services, to help more people get the support they need and making conversations about weight in primary care the norm. Further details about these measures will be available later in the year and we will engage stakeholders throughout this process.

It is for clinical commissioning groups to commission complex obesity services for adults based on the needs of their local population, which includes all bariatric surgical procedures and the associated care.