Time to get children on the move

Both adults and children need to take more exercise to reduce their risk of six chronic diseases.

Sir Liam Donaldson said measures could include "bleep tests" for children – similar to schemes already running in California and Texas.

Around the world, physical fitness among children is declining by 4.3 per cent per decade but in England the rate is double.

Research shows that being unfit but having a normal weight is worse for overall health than being "fat and fit".

Sir Liam said: "Improving physical fitness in children helps build a lifelong habit of participation in physical activity. We must get our children moving to improve their future health."

The bleep test involves running between two markers laid out 20 metres apart. The child must run from one marker to the other before a beep sounds.

As the test progresses, the beeps become quicker and the runner has to increase his or her speed to keep up.

The number of runs performed in a specific time can then be used to calculate fitness.

Current Government recommendations are for school-age children to be active for 60 minutes every day.

Physical fitness testing became compulsory for 10 to 15-year-olds in California in 2003. Over a three-year period, fitness levels improved by 8.2 per cent. A similar test was introduced for children aged eight to 17 in Texas in 2007.

Sir Liam said annual tests could help youngsters develop healthy habits for the rest of their lives. The costs had to be balanced against the huge costs of allowing physical activity levels to fall.

David Vickers, registrar at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, "strongly welcomed" the chief medical officer's conclusions

"We continue to be extremely concerned about child obesity as it damages children's physical and mental health and the harmful effects continue in to adulthood," he said.

"Physical activity is essential part of leading a healthy lifestyle and we encourage all parents to consider whether their child is getting enough regular exercise."

But Dylan Sharpe, of Big Brother Watch, said: "While it is important that children are fit and healthy, these proposed annual tests are yet more Government interference and yet more tests for a generation of children who are already constantly under assessment.

"The state doesn't need to tell parents if their kids are healthy, just as it doesn't need to constantly badger them about what their children should eat and how they should exercise."

Mubeen Bhutta, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "Whilst monitoring the physical fitness levels of children would help us understand how active they really are, what matters is the support we give all children to get active.

"We have to give kids and parents the right tools to easily build physical activity into their everyday lives, whether that's through safe routes to walk and cycle to school or through more opportunities to get active in and around the school day."