Conservative MP for Southend West David Amess launched a series of questions into food labelling and obesity yesterday.
In a written question, Mr Amess asked the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley, “whether he has made a recent estimate of the cost to the economy of illness, economic inactivity and premature death associated with overweight and obesity,” and “what recent discussions Ministers and officials in his Department have had with Ministerial colleagues on that matter.”
Mr Amess received a reply from Anne Milton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health. Ms Milton wrote “In 2007, the Foresight team which is part of the Government Office for Science published ‘Tackling Obesities: Future Choices’.
“The Foresight team estimated the cost of obesity and overweight to the national health service to be £4.2 billion per year.
“The cost to the economy was estimated to be £16 billion per year.”
Mr Amess also asked the health secretary “what recent discussions Ministers and officials in his Department have had with representatives of the food industry on the effects of the provision of food label information on the salt, sugar and fat content of foods on the ability of people to manage their diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity and other chronic medical conditions, what recent representations he has received on those matters” and “what recent discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues on those matters.”
Ms Milton replied “Ministers have not had any recent discussions with the food industry or representations on the provision of nutritional information on food labels.
“The Government are considering a number of schemes at the moment.
“It is important that people have nutritional information on the pack of food they buy, so that they can make good choices about what they eat.
“We will be having discussions with Ministers across Government as we develop our public health proposals.
“Officials regularly meet with food manufacturers, retailers and trade organisations to discuss a range of public health issues.
“This includes discussion about nutritional labelling.”
Some of Mr Amess’s governmental health proposals since the election have been to scrap free swimming, scrap the grant for pregnant women (to assist them in buying healthy food), scrap the athletics track proposed for chase high just for starters. If Mr Amess were to ask the foresight team mentioned above what they would suggest to tackle obesity for instance I’m fairly sure they would say that prevention is better than cure,so scrapping these things would be a step backwards not forwards. I would worry a lot less about labelling Mr Amess and look at all the services being lost in Southend like our very accessible warrior square pool. Swimming being a particularly good way to keep fit for people of all ages.