Robertson calls for a rethink over obesity

Hugh Robertson issues call for increased sport and exercise provision at primary school to combat childhood obesity.

Hugh Robertson, the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, has urged the government to undertake a fundamental rethink of the sports and activity strategy for primary school children as part of the fight against childhood obesity – which has doubled in the last ten years. Hugh Robertson was speaking at an Obesity Summit addressed by Magnus Scheving, alias Sporticus, the founder of the Lazy Town healthy lifestyle brand.

Hugh Robertson said,

“The evidence from other countries, such as Australia and Canada, suggests that the primary school years are crucial in terms of sport and exercise. If children pick up the exercise habit by the age of 11, it stays with them for the rest of their lives.

However, in this country, we have concentrated provision on the secondary school years – by when it is often too late. We need to restore physical education to the centre of the primary school syllabus, ideally with three sessions each week, and both train more PE teachers and increase the amount of PE training in ordinary teacher training to combat Britain’s spiralling childhood obesity crisis.”