Government ‘will miss 2030 target to halve childhood obesity’

There is a lack of evidence that schemes including the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and reducing calories in food will work to improve childhood obesity, a new report by the National Audit Office states.

It also criticises ministers and Public Health England (PHE) for “not understanding” the impact deprivation has on obesity levels, particularly among different ethinic groups.

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“Progress with the childhood obesity programme has been slow and many commitments are not yet in place,” said Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO.

The report shows that childhood obesity has increased over the last four years.

In 2018/19, 9.7 per cent of four- to five-year-olds and 20.2 per cent of 10-to 11-year-olds in England were obese. 

Children in deprived areas are twice as likely to be obese than those in less deprived areas, the NAO said, with nearly 13 per cent of four- to five-year-olds in the most deprived areas classed as obese compared with 6.4 per cent in the least deprived areas. 

At ages 10 to 11, this gap is greater with 26.9 per cent in the most deprived areas classified as obese, compared with 13 per cent in the least deprived.

Just over nine per cent of white children were classified as obese in 2018/19 at age four-to five years old, compared with more than 15 per cent of black children. 

These rates increase to more than 18 per cent and nearly 29 per cent respectively by age 10 to 11, the report adds.

It states that the Department of Health and Social Care and PHE “do not know how large a role deprivation plays in this variation between ethnic groups and acknowledge that further work is required.”

In 2016 the government launched a new childhood obesity plan, which aimed to halve childhood obesity and reduce the gap in obesity between children from the most and least deprived areas by 2030. 

“Few of the interventions in the DHSC’s childhood obesity programme specifically address deprivation,” the report states, “however, DHSC and PHE believe that population-wide measures, such as the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, can have a disproportionately positive impact on reducing obesity among people in the most deprived communities.”

The report also suggests that Boris Johnson’s new obesity strategy launched in July will have little impact on reaching the goal, stating that the government would “need to follow through with more urgency, commitment and cohesion if it is to address this severe risk to people’s health.”

Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, has called on the government to reverse spending cuts to local authority budgets to reduce the impact of childhood obesity on the more disadvantaged.

“Access to healthy food, financially and logistically, is a huge challenge for families in our most disadvantaged communities. Life is getting harder, not easier, for these families,” he said.

"Undoubtedly, we have made some progress. The ban on pre-9pm junk food advertising will be very important, if implemented, and we broadly welcomed the government’s commitment to make obesity a public health priority, although we need to see actions as well as promises.   

"However, it ultimately comes down to money and resources. Local authorities hardest hit by year-on-year cuts cannot be expected to deliver vital services from an ever-shrinking pot. As ever, the communities that need these services most are those that have faced the most severe funding cuts. Some local authorities say they will struggle to even deliver statutory services in the coming years.   

"It is time for the money to follow the commitments. Government should restore the £1 billion of real-terms cuts to the public health grant for local authorities. Similarly, we need to know what happens to the vital programmes delivered by PHE, which was abolished without any consultation, that will not move to the new National Institute for Health Protection,” Vinter added.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association’s community wellbeing board, said: “Greater powers for councils are also needed to tackle the clustering of existing takeaways and restricting junk food advertising, alongside extra investment in other council-run programmes such as exercise referral schemes and offering free or reduced-cost sport, if we are to meet the government’s ambition of halving childhood obesity by 2030.

“The forthcoming Spending Review is an opportunity to reverse the £700 million reduction in councils’ public health grant over the past five years. The grant should also be increased to match the growth in overall NHS funding to at least £3.9 billion a year by 2024/25.”