Parents will receive official letters telling them if their children are too fat under a government initiative to tackle childhood obesity.

The heaviest children will be described as "very overweight", as ministers believe parents will not accept being told that their child is obese.

Health and weight measurements taken at schools in England could be automatically sent to parents from the autumn, under the Department of Health scheme.

Ministers want the results to raise parent's awareness of their children's weight and the need to live a healthy lifestyle.

But obesity experts criticised ministers for "tip-toeing" around the issue.

Tam Fry, board member of the National Obesity Forum, said it was important to be upfront with parents.

Experts in the US had also suggested banning the word obese but had now changed their minds and decided the word was necessary, he said.

"I find this particular line from the government tip-toeing through the daffodils," he added.

"The Americans have gone back to using the term because it's the kind of shock word that makes parents sit up and take notice. It's a nasty word but by God it should sound alarm bells in parents' minds.

"I find this whole approach from the Department of Health a bit prissy and namby pamby."

Fry also said the decision not to give parents the exact body mass index of their child was "rubbish".

The proposal to give parents a "sliding scale" of where their children are on the BMI range also denied parents critical knowledge.

"It will not deliver the demand that the chief medical officer made in 2003 that the early signs of unhealthy weight need to be identified," said Fry.
The Department of Health is urging all local health trusts to automatically tell parents their child's height and weight as part of a national measuring programme.

Ministers do not want the word "obese" to be used in the letters home after research found it "shuts people down" to addressing their child's weight.

Dr Will Cavendish, director of health and wellbeing at the Department of Health, said it was important parents received information that was useful and which helped them take action.

"We have not banned (the word obese) but we have chosen not to use it," he said.

"There's no point giving them a letter that doesn't have any impact on their behaviour."

Health minister Ivan Lewis said: "It's clear from research we've done that parents want to know their child's results and whether there is concern about their health.

"But they want clear information which is helpful and non-stigmatising. This important move isn't about pointing the finger and telling parents that their children are overweight.

"Instead it's about equipping parents with the information they need to help their children live healthier lives."

The government will not force primary care trusts to tell parents their child's height and weight but 40% have indicated already they will do so, and another 40% will decide after seeing today's guidance.

The National Child Measurement Programme for England aims to weigh and measure children at two points in their school life.

Primary school children in reception class (ages 4-5) and year 6 (ages 10-11) are included. Last year 80% of children in those age groups took part.

But the programme has attracted criticism from health campaigners because parents can opt out of having their child included and they are more likely to do so if their child is fat.

Two thirds of adults and a third of children are either overweight or obese in the UK. The figure is predicted to rise to almost nine in 10 adults and two-thirds of children by 2050, which could cost the economy £50bn due to obesity-related ill-health.