MPs urge schools to be straight with parents of obese children

Parents of children who have extreme weight problems should be told the harsh truth by schools and health workers. That's the finding of a government committee set up to monitor how the country is dealing with a childhood obesity problem.

'If a primary school finds that a child is overweight or obese, then the parents must be informed,' said Commons public accounts committee chairman Edward Leigh. 'To do otherwise would be to keep parents in the dark about possible serious health risks to their children.'

'The extent to which children in this country are obese is alarming,' said the MP. 'More alarming still is evidence that unless we act, the proportion of children who are obese will increase sharply.

The committee blamed the government for 'dithering' over the issue of obesity and challenged it to find a high profile leader to head up the campaign.

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