Written question asked by Sandra Gidley (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 2 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 4 March 2010. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 March 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Obesity: Children

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of children in (a) Hampshire Primary Care Trust, (b) Southampton Primary Care Trust and (c) nationally were recognised as clinically obese in each age group in each of the last five years.

Answer: The information is not available in the format requested. Data are not held nationally on children who have been diagnosed as clinically obese.Children trend table 4 in the 'Health Survey for England—2008 trend tables' contains the percentage of children aged two to 10 and 11 to 15 in England who are obese in each year between 2004-08. This information has already been placed in the Library. Information is not available by primary care trust (PCT).Further information on the proportion of children who are obese in England is collected through the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). Table A in the NCMP main report shows the prevalence of obese children aged four to five years and 10 to 11 years in Hampshire PCT and Southampton PCT between 2006-07 and 2008-09. This information has already been placed in the Library.

Secondary information