Labour announces £1.25bn plan to boost child health
Neil Puffett
Monday, May 8, 2017
A major programme to improve the health and wellbeing of all British children will be launched if Labour wins the general election, the party has said.
Under the proposals, which are due to be set out today, a new "index of child health" will be created to measure progress against international standards and report annually against four key indicators: obesity, dental health, under-5s, and mental health.
Meanwhile, all government departments will be legally required 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.
There will also be additional funding for child and adolescent mental health services and a commitment to counselling provision in every school.
A child health fund will be set up to support the strategy, funded through a clampdown on management consultancy costs in the NHS. The fund will be worth £250m annually - coming to £1.25bn over the term of the next parliament.
Labour's shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said Labour wants to halve childhood obesity within 10 years and make Britain "the healthiest country in the world to grow up in".
If the party wins, it will publish a new childhood obesity strategy within the first 100 days, and will introduce legislation banning junk food advertising from being broadcast before 9pm.
"The scandal of child ill-health is a long-standing, growing and urgent challenge," Jonathan Ashworth, is expected to say.
"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 per cent of boys and 10 per cent of girls aged 11 to 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."
CYP Now is staging a conference on children's mental health Transforming Child Mental Health: Co-Production, Innovation and Impact on 13 July. Speakers include Kathryn Pugh, programme lead for children and young people's mental health at NHS England, and Natasha Devon, mental health campaigner and co-founder of Self-Esteem Team.