Schools should tell parents if child is too fat, say MPs

Parents should be warned on school reports if their child is too fat, says a committee of MPs. The Public Accounts Committee says ministers have been doing too much dithering over childhood obesity, and need to give parents more advice in how to help their children maintain a healthy weight. The Government's target of halting the rise in obesity of under-11s by 2011 would not be met unless parents were involved in helping youngsters slim down, say the MPs. Failing to tell parents that their child was too fat meant keeping them "in the dark about possible health risks to their children". Levels of obesity in children aged two to 10 years rose from 9.9% to 13.4% between 1995 and 2004, according to the Health Survey for England.
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