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Obesity

I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady. We need to be much clearer with parents that their children are at risk and that being overweight is not something that they will grow out of. We should be much more creative about how we target help to high-risk children. Why not allow all those children to have free healthy school lunches? As poverty and deprivation have such strong links with obesity, considering that high-risk group is particularly appropriate if we are to address the Marmot agenda. Unfortunately, families on tight budgets are much more likely to be pushed towards unhealthy and cheaper choices. If we want to nudge them in the right direction, we must recognise the role that price plays in the choices that they make. We should look at the role of loss leaders. We urgently need a change in what supermarkets offer so that loss leaders are redirected towards healthy rather than unhealthy products. Why not incentivise exercise in those high-risk families with vouchers for success and free access to good-quality sports facilities? We should incentivise a whole-family approach to cooking skills because cooking is a fun activity. An effective way forward would be to make such a service free and readily available to whole families. On liquid calories, a survey conducted by the British Dental Association and Ipsos-MORI showed that 47% of children's fluid intake is in the form of sugary and carbonated drinks. That means that one in five children is consuming 500 calories or more a day just in the form of sugary drinks and 73%—nearly three-quarters of children—are consuming more than 200 calories a day. It is a staggering number of calories that children are consuming. If we look at adults, we will see that there is a particular issue with alcohol. The chief medical officer has already highlighted that around 10% of an adult's calorie intake can be through alcohol. What we should understand from that is the role that discounting plays. I have mentioned that before. It really does not matter how disciplined the rational part of our brain tries to be—the irrational and impulsive side will continue to be irrational and impulsive. It is not helpful to see heavily discounted products in super-sized multi-buy packs piled high at the check-outs in supermarkets. If we want to move ““nudge”” towards ““shove””, we should regulate how supermarkets market their products. I do not suggest that the whole answer to obesity lies in regulating supermarkets. I realise that there is a complex interplay between over-supply, pricing, culture, marketing, poor consumer choices and human nature. There is also the interplay between genetic predisposition and a lack of exercise. However, it is unlikely that our current strategy will go far enough in this regard. If we are going to do something about the £5 billion a year that this problem is costing us—the figure is predicted to rise to £10 billion a year by 2050—I suggest and hope that the Minister takes a strong line and abandons the idea of giving the problem a little nudge, in favour of giving it an almighty shove.