MORE than a third of children in Cumbria are considered to be unhealthily overweight when they finish primary school.

NHS Digital figures show 20.2 per cent of year six pupils across the county in 2019/2020 were obese - with almost five per cent of those severely obese, meaning their body mass index (BMI) was in the top 0.4 per cent for their age and sex.

A further 14.1 per cent of children in year 6 were overweight.

The NHS said these figures should be interpreted with caution, however, with school closures during the coronavirus pandemic impacting data collection in the latest year.

The data comes from the Government's annual National Child Measurement Programme – part of its approach to tackling obesity – which records the height and weight of Year 6 and reception-age children in state-maintained schools across England to monitor obesity trends.

It also revealed, in both age groups, there were twice as many obese children living in the most deprived areas of England compared to the least deprived areas.

Professor Rachel Batterham, special adviser on obesity for the Royal College of GPs, said the impact of deprivation on childhood obesity rates nationally is "alarming".

She said: "Access to healthy food should be a right and not a privilege.

"The gap in obesity prevalence between children from the most deprived and least deprived areas is stark and growing.

"It is clear that socio-economic factors such as under-employment or poverty play a key role in driving obesity and poor health, and that a whole-government approach is critical in order to reduce health inequalities and obesity rates."

Caroline Cerny, alliance lead at Obesity Health Alliance, said in a year where public health has been propelled to the forefront of politics, "action on child health is - needed not just words." She wants to see junk food taken out of the spotlight through restrictions on marketing and promotions and said the sooner this action is taken, the sooner children can be given the chance to grow up healthy.