National Child Measurement Programme

Established in 2005, the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) weighs and measures children in Reception (aged 4–5 years) and Year 6 (aged 10–11 years) to assess overweight and obese levels.

Every year, as part of the NCMP, children in Reception and Year 6 are weighed and measured during the school year to inform local planning and delivery of services for children; and gather population-level surveillance data to allow analysis of trends in growth patterns and obesity.

The NCMP also helps to increase public and professional understanding of weight issues in children and is a useful vehicle for engaging with children and families about healthy lifestyles and weight issues. To encourage engagement, parents can request their child’s results from their Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), regardless of their weight, unless the parent requests not to receive the results.

The results are available at a regional and PCT level from the NHS Information Centre at www.ncmp.ic.nhs.uk

For more details please see the Department of Health website at www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthimprovement/Healthyliving/DH_073787

  • NCMP: Early Experiences of Routine Feedback to Parents of Children's Height & Weight
    NCMP: Early Experiences of Routine Feedback to Parents of Children's Height and Weight
  • National Child Measurement Programme West Midlands Results 2007/08
    The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) records height and weight of children in Reception (typically aged 4-5 years) and Year 6 (typically aged 10-11 years). The NCMP dataset contains anonymised information on individual children who have been measured. In this report the data for the West Midlands region has been analysed in greater detail and may sit alongside national level reports, produced by the National Obesity Observatory and the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care. This report presents findings of prevalence levels for underweight, healthy, overweight and obesity. Analysis is also conducted on how well PCTs responded to the programme, investigating changes in participation rates, as well as data quality issues which will improve data collection in the future.
  • National Child Measurement Programme: Detailed Analysis of the 2007/08 Dataset
    This report presents detailed secondary analyses of the 2007/08 NCMP national dataset to help further our understanding of the epidemiology of child height, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) across England. It attempts to explain some of the findings presented in the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care 2007/08 NCMP report.
    Data on the prevalence of underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obesity are analysed, comparing the 2007/08 data to the 2006/07 data and to the 1990 baseline. The report also presents analysis by deprivation and ethnic group, examines how the distribution of BMI differs by age and sex of the sample population and looks at the association between obesity prevalence and the characteristics of individual children and the PCTs in which they were measured. The report also investigates participation and data quality issues.
  • NCMP Datasets
    Reports available from the West Midlands Public Health Observatory's website.
  • NCMP Workshop for the West Midlands - 29 June 2009

    An event organised by the Department of Health West Midlands that took place at Birmingham Voluntary Services Council (BVSC), 138 Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6DR on Monday 29th June 2009.