One in 10 children are obese when they start primary school

One in 10 children are obese when they start primary school at the age of four, shocking new figures have revealed.

And in the space of five years, childhood obesity rates double, with one in five children leaving primary school obese.

According to The Daily Mail, rxperts today warned that not enough is being done in schools to tackle the childhood obesity epidemic, urging the Government to increase compulsory physical activity levels.

The new figures, published today by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, show 9.5 per cent of reception class children, aged four to five, were obese in 2013-14.

It marks a slight rise from 9.3 per cent the previous year, but is lower than in 2006-07, when 9.9 per cent of the age group were obese.

In Year 6, the proportion of 10 to 11-year-olds who were obese was 19.1 per cent in 2013-14, up from 18.9 per cent the previous year, and also a rise from 17.5 per cent in 2006-07. 

Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said while the 'adult population seems to be getting the message', with rates remaining largely constant in men and women, childhood obesity is the 'real concern'.

He told MailOnline: 'The huge doubling between children aged four and 11 is particularly disastrous.'

Mr Fry warned by the time children reach 11 it is 'recognised they have more or less made up their minds about their lifestyle'.

'Those 11-year-olds are probably going to end up as obese adults,' he said.

'It means every year there will be more and more obese adults adding to these statistics.'

He said in Scotland the NHS has been forced to re-evaluate its obesity forecast figures, predicting that 50 per cent of the nation will be obese by 2030 - 20 years earlier than previously estimated.

'We used to think we'd be retired and buried by 2050,' he said. 'But 2030 is a whole generation earlier.'

While acknowledging the forecast is currently only specific to Scotland, Mr Fry said it is a concerning trend.

Mr Fry, who is also chair of the Child Growth Foundation, told MailOnline the blame for spiralling primary school obesity rates, in part, lies with a failed education programme.

He said the current scheme, introduced by Labour and pursued by the Coalition Government, 'isn't working'.

'One of the reasons for these high rates of obesity by the time a child is 11 is a lack of physical education,' Mr Fry told MailOnline.

'Children are just not getting enough exercise.'

He rejected the tendency of politicians to lay blame solely at the door of parents, noting the period where child obesity rates rise is when they are in primary school - and so spending the majority of their time away from home.

And he warned an added concern is not knowing how children are spending their pocket money at corner shops and on their way home. 

'If only schools were to have proper physical activity, these numbers would reduce significantly' Mr Fry said. 

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