Vol. 731 Wednesday No. 207 19 October 2011 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDER OF BUSINESS Questions Health: Obesity Public Services: Security of Provision Industrial Tribunals: Fees Nursing: Elderly and Vulnerable Patients Scrap Metal Dealers (Amendment) Bill First Reading Medicines Act 1968 (Pharmacy) Order 2011 Motion to Approve Electricity and Gas (Internal Markets) Regulations 2011 Motion to Approve Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Bill Committee (1st Day) Northern Ireland: Economy Question for Short Debate Written Statements Written Answers For column numbers see back page £3·50 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. The bound volumes also will be sent to those Peers who similarly notify their wish to receive them. No proofs of Daily Reports are provided. 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THE INDEX to each Bound Volume of House of Commons Debates is published separately at £9·00 and can be supplied to standing order. All prices are inclusive of postage. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2011, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through The National Archives website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/our-services/parliamentary-licence-information.htm Enquiries to The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU; email: [email protected] 281 Health: Obesity[19 OCTOBER 2011] Health: Obesity 282 Baroness Trumpington: My Lords, does the Minister House of Lords realise that some of us eat like sparrows but end up like turkeys? Does the publication which he spoke of Wednesday, 19 October 2011. cover the situation of those of us whom I have just spoken of? 3pm Earl Howe: My Lords, my noble friend makes what Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Leicester. is in fact a very complex point. Many of us believe that there is a genetic element to this, and indeed the 2007 Health: Obesity Foresight report underlined the complexity around the Question causes of obesity. Genetic, psychological, cultural and 3.07 pm behavioural factors all have a part to play in it. I do not have specific advice to give my noble friend—far Asked By Lord McColl of Dulwich be it from me to do so—but there is obviously a balance To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action to be struck between calories in and calories out. they are taking to address rising levels of obesity. Baroness Thornton: My Lords, if the Royal Society The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, of Paediatricians, other medical organisations, Which? Department of Health (Earl Howe): My Lords, the magazine, Jamie Oliver and many others regard the Government are committed to tackling obesity, which Secretary of State’s most recent obesity announcement, has serious consequences for individuals, the NHS which presumably is based on corporate relations and and the wider economy. The Government recently the nudge theory, as, variously, “worthless”, “patronising” published A call to action on obesity in England, which and “inadequate”, does the noble Earl regard this as sets out how obesity will be tackled in the new public people not understanding Mr Lansley—again—or could health and NHS systems and the role of key partners. it be that the obesity strategy is actually not adequate Lord McColl of Dulwich: I thank my noble friend and the Government need to go back to the drawing for that reply. Would he kindly consider launching a board? campaign comparable to that launched by my noble friend Lord Fowler in the 1980s, which was so striking Earl Howe: It is only inadequate if we as Government and so very effective? fail to work with partners as we have the ambition to do. We do have that ambition, and obviously we are Earl Howe: I agree with my noble friend about the disappointed by some of the reactions that have been campaign launched by our noble friend Lord Fowler, published. However, we share the concerns expressed which was extremely effective. We recognise that excess by Jamie Oliver and the bodies mentioned by the weight is a really serious problem. That is why we have noble Baroness that urgent action is required to tackle set out what we believe is an ambitious approach to obesity, and we all have a role to play in that. dealing with it. We are radically overhauling the public health system. We are working with business to go Lord Lawson of Blaby: My Lords, as someone who further and faster on making it easier for people to has been there and done that, and indeed written a make healthy choices for themselves and their families. book about it, may I say to the noble Earl that he is We are also continuing to invest in programmes such absolutely right that this is not something that the as Change4Life. The Government cannot solve the Government can do on their own—indeed, may I problem on their own but we can encourage and suggest that it is not something that the Government support a wide range of partners to play their part. can do at all? There is a genetic element, which the The call to action sets out how we are going to do that. Government cannot do anything about, and the rest is about eating less and drinking less. If the Government Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, will the were more concerned about doing something about noble Earl please explain how people can be expected the economy, where they do have a responsibility, and to take personal responsibility for sorting out their less about obesity, that might be sensible. health problems when so much information about the food and drink they consume is kept from them? Can he please also explain why the Government are failing Earl Howe: My Lords, the fact is, as was recognised to press the drinks industry to show the number of in our report, that most of us are eating and drinking calories in alcoholic drinks on the labels, and declining more than we need to and we are not active enough. to meet the industry and press it accordingly? Being overweight or obese is a direct consequence of eating more calories than we need. Increasing physical Earl Howe: I am not aware that we have declined to activity is important but reducing the calories we meet the drinks industry; the noble Lord may know consume is clearly key to weight loss. something that I do not. We talk regularly to the drinks industry. As he will be aware from a Question Lord Maxton: My Lords, does the Minister agree tabled in this House the other day, the result of the that exercise is a vital part of tackling the problem of European nutrition labelling regulation is that we now obesity? If the Government insist on local authorities have the flexibility in this country to construct rules cutting back on their expenditure, will not those same that suit us. That includes encouraging the drinks local authorities close gymnasiums, leisure centres and industry—and I believe that it is willing to do it—to swimming pools, and sell off their playing fields? How place energy information on its labels. does that help us to tackle obesity? 283 Health: Obesity[LORDS] Public Services: Security of Provision 284 Earl Howe: The short answer is the ring-fenced government, we have appointed a Crown representative public health budget, which will encourage local authorities responsible for managing the relationship with that to look across the piece at their public health supplier. responsibilities. Lord Haskel: My Lords, I find that response a little Baroness Hussein-Ece: My Lords— worrying, because we all depend on public services. Does the Minister agree that, at this time of volatile Baroness Howarth of Breckland: My Lords— markets and financial difficulties, the services that we get from these companies are at risk from too much The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord debt, from hidden debt and from hit-and-run investors Strathclyde): My Lords, if both noble Baronesses are who try to take over these companies? Are the quick, we can get both in. Can my noble friend speak Government taking any extra precautions in these first, and then the noble Baroness? circumstances, because, at the end of the day, it is we the taxpayers who have to clear up the mess? Baroness Hussein-Ece: My Lords, unlike the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, I have not really been there and Lord Wallace of Saltaire: My Lords, one cannot done it, but I am full of admiration for him that he entirely eliminate financial risk either from private or has. However, is it not shocking that 25 per cent of public sector providers so long as public sector providers children aged between two and 15 are now classified as have a degree of financial and accounting autonomy.