On Tuesday 10th February the Health Select Committee hosted its second oral evidence session looking at the impact of physical activity and diet on health.

Jane Ellison MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Public Health, Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England and Kay Thomson, the Health Lead at Sport England, were among the witnesses.

The first of the two oral hearings took place on 3 February 2015, attended by UK Active and the British Heart Foundation among others.

This inquiry looks at evidence of the impact of diet on health and the most effective way of conveying healthy eating and drinking to the public in order to achieve a more healthy weight, and evidence of the impact of physical activity on health, including its impact independent of weight.

Among other things, the inquiry looks at trends in body mass index and conditions related to obesity, the role of schools and parents in encouraging active play, and the role of NHS organisations and Public Health England in improving levels of physical activity and diet.

Charlotte Leslie MP, a prominent advocate for sport and physical activity in Parliament, was keen to address the difference between the amount of physical activity that women and girls do and boys and men.

In a previous hearing, the select committee suggested the Government should be working cross-departmentally to make sure that physical activity was something that every Department looked at in all the areas that each Department covers.

Citing this previous recommendation, Charlotte Leslie asked Jane Ellison whether it would be possible to introduce a physical activity impact assessment, whereby each Government Department has to demonstrate that its policies promote physical activity and may have to report to someone who is a cross-departmental figure before any Bill went through.

Barbara Keeley MP highlighted that local authorities are facing massive financial pressures and questioned whether we are witnessing the end of free swimming for children at the earliest ages.

Dr Jane Moore, Director of Public Health and Professor in Public Health at Coventry University, agreed, highlighting that her city will have have lost 46% of the budget between 2010 and 2016. However in response, she noted the city introduced an initiative called Passport to Leisure for the most deprived swimmers, which is available for people on low incomes.

A full script of the hearing can be found here. Please watch this space to follow further developments of the committee's inquiry.