The Secretary of State for Health, (Alan Johnson) announced, on 17 October, that the Department will be developing a comprehensive cross Government strategy on obesity, to reverse the rising tide of obesity and overweight in the population, by enabling everyone to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Our initial focus will be on children: by 2020, we aim to reduce the proportion of overweight and obese children to 2000 level. This new ambition also contributes to the new child health public service agreement (shared with Department for Children, Schools and Families). The Government will shortly be publishing a cross-Government strategy to tackle obesity and meet the new ambition. This will build on both existing work and new evidence from the Government office for Science Foresight Report.