NHS data published in November 2024 shows that 9.6% of reception-age children were obese in 2023-24, up from 9.2% in 2022-23, with children as young as two treated for obesity-related illness in England and experts warning of a public health crisis. Among children aged 10-11, the proportion who have obesity fell slightly from 22.7% to 22.1% but remained higher than the 2019-20 level of 21%. Recent research by the Food Foundation indicates that bad diet is causing a record amount of disability among people across the UK who are overweight or obese. NHS England has said that it was spending £6.5bn a year on treating obesity-related ill health across all age groups in England.
Labour, in its general election manifesto, committed to banning advertising junk food to children along with the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s. The government intends to ban junk food advertisements from television before the 9pm watershed. It also aims to give local authorities enhanced powers to block the development of fast food outlets near schools to tackle obesity. Further measures are being examined by the government, with officials canvassing the public health sector for policy ideas, including on how to combat obesity, and ministers keen for the want the NHS to take a more proactive role on prevention. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that he is prepared to take “much bolder” action on preventing illness. “There’s diet, there’s healthy lifestyle, we are going to have to get into that space.” Since 2021, meanwhile, NHS England has established 30 specialist Complications from Excess Weight clinics designed for children aged between two and 18 with health complications related to severe obesity, providing specialist treatment and developing tailored care packages with families, which can include diet plans, mental health treatment and coaching, the NHS said.
The government has come under pressure to be bold on public health from chef and food campaigner Jamie Oliver, Henry Dimbleby, a co-founder of the Leon restaurant chain, who drew up Boris Johnson’s food plan, and Anne Longfield, former Children’s Commissioner for England. Oliver urged Keir Starmer to learn lessons from the success of some of the tough anti-obesity measures that have been implemented internationally, such as Amsterdam’s education of primary schoolchildren about healthy eating, restrictions on junk food packaging in Mexico and Chile, and Colombia’s sugar and salt taxes. Dimbleby advised the Prime Minister to regulate the food industry to force it to make its products healthier. He said: “If we are to move from treating sickness to preventing it, it is essential that we change the way we eat. Now is the opportunity for the government to introduce policies to ensure that everyone can access the foods needed to keep them healthy, and that the food industry is regulated to stem the relentless flow of junk food that has become a lethal cultural norm.” Longfield has proposed extending the sugar tax to sugar-sweetened drinks such as milkshakes.
This symposium will provide an opportunity for stakeholders – including healthcare professionals, schools, charities, and local authorities – to learn about existing efforts to reduce childhood obesity, evaluate the new Labour government’s commitments in this area, and assess the policy changes needed to tackle this growing public health challenge and improve diets among children.
Programme
- Understand the current state of childhood obesity in the UK, its trends, drivers, and impacts
- Evaluate the new Labour government’s plans for tackling childhood obesity
- Exchange best practice initiatives among local authorities, schools and the NHS for tackling childhood obesity
- Compare the different approaches taken to tackle obesity across the four nations of the UK
- Assess how the NHS, regulators and other stakeholders can embed a more proactive, preventative approach to public health
- Exchange views on the bold, innovative changes required to significantly reduce levels of childhood obesity
- Examine the role played by NHS specialist clinics in treating and tackling childhood obesity
- Learn about and evaluate anti-obesity measures taken internationally
To register for the briefing, please click here.
