To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons the Government did not set a target to reduce levels of obesity between 1997 and 2004. (223725)

From the 1998 comprehensive spending review until 2004, the Department agreed a range of targets (public service agreements) to improving health that were related to obesity. For example, in 2000 the Department published a public service agreement (PSA) to substantially reduce the mortality rates from major killers by 2010, including heart disease and cancer—obesity is a contributing factor to both of these health issues.