evidence: 16. The Northern Ireland Audit Office Report[28] concluded that in Northern Ireland the cost attributable to the lack of physical activity includes over 2,100 deaths each year but it found that no robust estimate of the overall health care costs of treating diabetes was available from the Department. Sustrans reminded us that the Department’s Investing for Heath Strategy back in 2002 had estimated that obesity caused over 450 deaths per annum; equivalent to over 4,000 expected years of life lost; 260,000 working days lost each year; and the approximate cost to the economy of £500 million.[29] The British Medical Association suggested that, "tackling obesity could save the health service in Northern Ireland £8.4 million, reduce sickness absence by 170,000 days and add an extra ten years of life onto an individual’s life span."[30] [...] 1033. To give the Committee some idea of the costs involved; £102 million is spent on direct health and personal social services; £87 million is spent on informal care in Northern Ireland, particularly by the families of those who are in care institutions; and £65 million is lost in income because of mortality, morbidity and benefit payments. That means that, in total, the cost to Northern Ireland is over £250 million. [...] 3.9. Tackling obesity could save the health service in Northern Ireland £8.4 million, reduce sickness absence by 170,000 days and add an extra ten years of life onto an individual’s life span.[11]