Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the level of (a) NHS and (b) other expenditure for which his Department is responsible has been for the (i) treatment and (ii) prevention of obesity in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

Information on National Health Service expenditure on the treatment and prevention of obesity is not collected centrally. Decisions on spending are a matter for local NHS organisations.

It is not possible to provide comprehensive information about the Department’s expenditure on the treatment and prevention of obesity because a wide range of teams across the Department and other partners contribute to this policy. The Department has invested in a number of nationally-coordinated programmes which contribute to tackling obesity including the National Child Measurement Programme, NHS Health Checks, Change4Life, the School Games and Change4Life School Sports Clubs.

Local authorities have been given ring-fenced funding of £8.49 billion over three years, 2013/14 to 2015/16, to help tackle public health issues including overweight and obesity.