Parents of 5-year-olds are to be sent official warning letters if their child is found to be obese, as part of a national programme to weigh children in schools.
Ministers are bracing themselves for charges that they will stigmatise fat children when they publish proposals next month to tackle rising levels of obesity, The Times has learnt.
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, is understood to have been persuaded that it is in children?s best interest if their weight is brought formally to the attention of their parents.
The routine weighing of primary school pupils was reintroduced in England and Wales two years ago in response to obesity fears. The National Child Measurement programme aims to collect data on every child twice, when they start school and when they leave. Parents of 5 and 10-year-olds can request the measurements but are not informed automatically, even if the child is severely overweight.
