Labour’s new manifesto ambition to make Britain’s children the healthiest in the world

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, will set out the party’s plans to combat health inequalities and end the scandalous link between deprivation and child health.

Labour will:

· Introduce a new Index of Child Health to measure progress against international standards and report annually against four key indicators: obesity, dental health, under 5s, and mental health.

· Legally require all Government departments to have a child health strategy to set out how they will support the UK’s ambition to have the healthiest children in the world.

· Support school nurses and health visitors to make sure that all children have access to the healthcare they are entitled to.

· Set up a £250m annual child health fund to support the strategy, by clamping down on management consultancy costs in the NHS.

· Ensure extra funding for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and support for counselling in every school.

· Ring-fence the public health budget over the course of the Parliament to allow councils to invest in leisure activities and health awareness campaigns

Today (Monday) Labour is outlining the first stage of its plan focusing specifically on obesity which is costing the NHS £6bn a year.

Labour pledge to ban adverts promoting unhealthy food from being broadcast during primetime television, such as the X Factor, Hollyoaks and Britain’s Got Talent. A ban on pre-watershed junk food advertising would reduce children’s viewing of junk food adverts by 82%.

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, will pledge that a Labour Government elected after the General Election would:

· Halve childhood obesity within ten years and make Britain “the healthiest country in the world to grow up in.”

· Introduce legislation banning junk food advertising from being broadcast before 9pm

· Publish a new childhood obesity strategy within the first 100 days outlining a roadmap to halving childhood obesity rates within ten years

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, will say:

“The scandal of child ill-health is a long-standing, growing and urgent challenge. It should be matter of shame that a child’s health is so closely linked to poverty and that where and in what circumstances you grow up can dramatically affect your life chances.

“Evidence shows the link between deprivation and poor health in childhood, so with child poverty on the rise, the need for action becomes more acute.

“The UK has one of the worst childhood obesity rates in Western Europe. Tooth decay is the single most common reason why children aged five to nine require admission to hospital. Around 13% of boys and 10% of girls aged 11-15 have mental health problems.

“When it comes to our children we should be ambitious. It’s time we invested properly in the health of the next generation. That means the sort of bold action we are outlining today to tackle obesity and invest in mental health provision.

Labour will put children at the heart our health strategy and put measures in place to make Britain’s children the healthiest in the world.”

Ends

Editor’s Notes:

Policy details

Labour’s Child Health Bill

Labour will introduce a Child Health Bill, setting in law our ambition for the UK’s children to be the healthiest in the world and legally requiring all Government departments to have a child health strategy to set out how they will support this new ambition
We will introduce a new Index of Child Health, led jointly between Department of Health and Public Health England, to measure progress against international standards and report annually against four key indicators: obesity, dental health, under 5s (including breastfeeding, immunisation and childhood mortality), and mental health.
These measures will be met from within existing departmental budgets

Children’s Health Fund
· Labour will create a new £250m Child Health Fund by clamping down on consultancy costs in the NHS.

· In the past five years an average £538m of the Department of Health budget has been spent on management consultants.

· By halving management consultant spend each year in the next Parliament, Labour will free up £250m a year to spend on making Britain’s children the healthiest in the world.

· The funding will be used on growing the public health workforce, supporting local authorities with public health promotion, and administering Labour’s new Child Health Index.

Invest in school nurses and health visitors

Labour recognises the role of public health practitioners, including school nurses and health visitors, in driving child health improvements.
England has lost 8% of Health Visitors since January 2016, and 15% of school nurses since 2010.
Labour will ask PHE and HEE to work together to identify how the public health workforce will need to be shaped to support the UK’s new ambition of having the healthiest children in the world.
By reprioritising public health around the needs of children we expect that workforce growth can be funded through the new Child Health Fund.

Childhood obesity

The UK has one of the worst childhood obesity rates in Western Europe.
In the UK more than one in five children in their first year of primary school are overweight or obese. This increases to one in three by the time they leave primary school. If the crisis in childhood obesity is not tackled, half of all UK children will be obese or overweight by 2020.
Labour will implement a ban on the advertising of food and drink that is high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) before the 9pm watershed to protect children during family viewing time.
· Ofcom found that the restrictions introduced since 2005 reduced children’s viewing of HFSS adverts by 37%. A ban on pre-watershed junk food advertising would reduce children’s viewing of HFSS adverts by 82%.

Publish a new childhood obesity strategy within the first 100 days outlining a roadmap to halving childhood obesity rates within ten years
· Ban on advertising is cost neutral. New Obesity Strategy will be met from within existing Departmental Budgets

Improving support for young people’s mental health

· Half of all lifetime cases of psychiatric disorders start by age 14 and three quarters by age 24. Around 13% of boys and 10% of girls aged 11-15 have mental health problems including anxiety and depression, eating disorders and hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders.

· Suicide is the leading cause of death in people aged 15-24.

· Supporting our young people’s mental health is therefore crucial, particularly through prevention and early intervention.

· Labour will protect funding for CAMHS and make sure it reaches its intended target in each CCG.

· Labour will support counselling services in primary and secondary schools.

· Labour is committed to growing the percentage of NHS spending on mental health services over the course of the Parliament.

· Further details of Labour’s plan for mental health will follow in our manifesto.

Public Health Ringfence

· The current Government transferred public health budgets to local authorities in 2015 and then made large reductions to public health budgets (included £200 million in year in 2015/16, £77m in 2016/17 and £84m in 2017/18).

· This has led to large reductions in the services available to local communities

· Public health budgets are ringfenced until April 2019, following which local authorities will be expected to fund public health from business rates.

· To protect public health and ensure local authorities can play their part in making Britain’s children the healthiest in the world, Labour will ring fence public health budgets for the course of the Parliament.

· This policy is cost neutral.