Written question asked by Jeremy Hunt (Conservative) on Wednesday, 15 July 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 20 July 2009. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Exercise

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the economy of physical inactivity since 2002.

Answer: [holding answer 20 July 2009]: The Department included estimates of the cost of physical inactivity, to the wider economy of England, of £8.2 billion a year in "At least five a week—Evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health", published in 2004.More recently, a study of the primary and secondary health care costs attributable to physical inactivity was commissioned and published an estimate of these costs for every primary care trust in England as an Annex to "Be active, be healthy—A plan for getting the nation moving", published in February 2009.Copies of both publications have already been placed in the Library.

Secondary information