§ 2.45 p.m.
§ Lord Campbell of Croy asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether they have been approached by the World Health Organisation with requests to provide information or assistance to the new international obesity task force.
558§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)My Lords, no. We have received no request from the World Health Organisation for information or assistance regarding an international obesity task force.
Lord Campbell of CroyMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that reply. Did she notice that the announcement of the task force last month described obesity as a widespread epidemic which present arrangements were incapable of arresting? Can she confirm that the proportion of the population of the United Kingdom considered to be obese increased by 7 per cent.—in round figures, of course—between 1980 and 1991?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, the Government are tackling the issue, not in a nannying way or by telling people what to do, but by giving them the necessary information. I confirm the figures just given by my noble friend. Obesity is on the increase, although we would not describe it as an epidemic.
§ Lord ReaMy Lords, it is hard to follow the noble Lord's lightweight approach without seeming heavy-handed. Does the noble Baroness agree that the efforts of the Government to achieve the target under the proposals in Health of the Nation to reverse the steady increase in obesity have so far proved ineffective or, to use the vernacular, a fat lot of use? To use the analogy of the task force that captured Port Stanley, if that is not too gross a metaphor, in terms of reducing people's weight would not the Government get useful advice from the proposed WHO task force?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, the noble Lord will be aware that we set up the nutrition task force. It has made firm recommendations which the Government are considering. The Government will reply quite shortly and will publish the findings. The noble Lord will also be aware that there is an exercise campaign. Obesity is very complex; it concerns not only nutrition but also exercise.
§ Lord Stoddart of SwindonMy Lords, if the noble Baroness has communication with the World Health Organisation on this problem, will she ask it to concentrate its efforts on the hundreds of millions of people in the world who are starving rather than those who, perhaps for their own enjoyment, eat more than they should?
§ Baroness CumberlegeMy Lords, we do not wish to tell the World Health Organisation what to do. However, the noble Lord is right. This is a condition of countries which are extremely well off; there are others where considerably more suffering occurs through starvation and lack of food.