13 Oct, 2015
Head of Public Health England to be hauled before MPs
BBC News online | Michelle Roberts | Health editor | 13 Oct 2015
Mr Duncan Selbie has been asked to appear in front of the Commons Health Select Committee on Monday.
MPs say they need to see the report on sugar reduction to make recommendations ahead of the government’s new child obesity strategy.
The strategy itself has been delayed.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said it will now be published later this year, along with PHE’s report looking at how to curb the nation’s sweet tooth, which includes evidence on fiscal measures relating to sugar-sweetened drinks as well as advertising of foods to children.
The head of the Commons Health Select committee, Dr Sarah Wollaston, has accused Public Health England of obstructing its inquiry into child obesity by refusing to publish the report.
In a strongly worded letter to Mr Duncan Selbie, chief of PHE, last week, she said: “The evidence you have assembled is crucial to the committee’s ability to consider what the policy priorities should be for addressing childhood obesity.
“Delayed publication is as harmful as non-publication if this means that the public and health professionals wishing to influence the content of the obesity strategy do not have access to the data before the ink is dry on the obesity strategy.”
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