Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Berkeley (Labour). It was answered on Thursday, 18 June 2009.

Health: Obesity

Question: My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that comprehensive Answer and for the promises that she has given to the House. However, is she aware that every year about 30,000 people die from obesity and that there is a link between exercise and obesity, as the experience in Denmark and the Netherlands shows? People in the Netherlands cycle 12 times further than people in the UK and the obesity level in the Netherlands and in Denmark is two and a half times lower than ours. Can my noble friend tell the House a little more about what she is doing to encourage her departmental staff to cycle more and walk more, and will she encourage other departments, particularly the Department for Transport, to provide facilities for cycling?

Answer: My Lords, a great deal of activity is going on around cycling. I pay tribute to my noble friend for being, as it were, the life Lord for cycling in your Lordships’ House and encouraging cycling in general and for parliamentarians as well. We are already implementing as part of our obesity strategy a number of initiatives to encourage NHS staff, for example, to recognise the benefits of cycling. We are working right now with our trusts to plan a major promotion of cycling. We are investing £140 million in a three-year programme to increase cycling, which is being delivered through Cycling England. The investment will improve cycling infrastructure through dedicated cycle lanes, increase bike parking and promote the benefits of cycling, although we cannot do anything about the fact that there are more hills in the UK than in the Netherlands. It will also promote cycle training. There will be 146,000 children trained to use bikes safely and we aim to have 500,000 children trained to use bikes safely by 2012.

Secondary information