PLANS to tackle childhood obesity were today blasted as `confused' and `dithering' by an influential group of MPs.

Ministers have been slow to react to the problem and efforts to work with the food industry have failed, said the Public Accounts Committee.

It also said parents should be told if their children are overweight, and called for the appointment of a high-profile figure to `champion' the battle against obesity.

The departments of Health, Education and Culture and Media and Sport set a joint target three years ago to halt growing obesity among under-11s by 2011.

But Public Accounts Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "It is lamentable that, long after the target was set, there is still so much dithering and confusion and still so little co-ordination."

'Confusion'

The committee's investigation found there was a complex government system for combating childhood obesity which involved 26 different bodies and suffered from `confusion over roles and responsibilities'.

Parents are still not being involved and a public information campaign was finally being launched this year.

The committee also found that: "The departments' strategy of working alongside the food industry to influence its approach to marketing foods and drinks that are high in fat, salt and sugar has not been successful in changing the way the majority of unhealthy foods are marketed."

The Department of Health had also not provided clarity on whether, when and how parents should be told their offspring are overweight.

Mr Leigh said: "If a primary school finds that a child is overweight, then the parents must be informed. To do otherwise would be to keep parents in the dark about serious health risks to their children."

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