Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about eating disorders and action to tackle obesity.

The rates of both eating disorders and obesity are increasing across the country. While concerted action is required to tackle obesity, I agree with you that this should be done in a sensitive way that considers the potential consequences for people living with eating disorders.

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that can have severe consequences. Evidence shows that the sooner someone receives treatment, the better their chances are of making a full and sustained recovery. Sadly, too often that does not happen and access to treatment has become a postcode lottery.

Research undertaken by the eating disorder charity Beat finds that in 2018 one in five adults with an eating disorder waited longer than four months from referral to treatment, and one in ten adults waited almost half a year before starting treatment. I do not believe that this is acceptable.

Until mental health funding is both increased and ring-fenced, I am concerned that mental health services will remain a lower priority than meeting demand for physical health services. If Ministers want to achieve parity of esteem between physical and mental health, I believe they must bring forward a costed plan to increase the mental health workforce, invest more in services and ring-fence funding to ensure money reaches the frontline.

I believe the Government should take a holistic approach when it comes to tackling the rising prevalence of obesity in England. The UK has one of the worst childhood obesity rates in Western Europe and the gap between children from the most and least deprived backgrounds is rising. Action is needed to protect children from junk food marketing with restrictions on advertising, alongside the promotion of healthy food choices in shops and supermarkets. More widely, I believe Ministers must reverse cuts to public health funding to ensure that community services can support people to live healthier lives.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this important issue. I will press the Government to ensure that there is greater collaboration between policies to tackle obesity and eating disorders.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP