Obesity in children should be seen as an indicator of parental neglect, council leaders have urged. The LGA has warned that as morbid obesity rises in children, council social workers will increasingly have to step in and place more youngsters on the ‘at risk' register. But officials warned there were, at present, no clear guidelines as to how far and when councils should get involved with the welfare of a seriously-overweight child. The LGA spokesman on public health, Cllr David Rogers, said: ‘Local authorities would step in to deal with an under-nourished and neglected child, so should a case with a morbidly-obese child be different? ‘There needs to be a national debate about the extent to which it is acceptable for local authorities to take action in cases where the welfare of children is in real jeopardy.' The call came after town halls announced details of how expensive obesity was to councils. These included local authorities which had to take action against those parents whose child's health was at risk because of his or her weight, and enlarging furniture in schools to accommodate larger frames.