Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the report of the Academy of Medical Sciences Prioritising early
childhood to promote the nation’s health, wellbeing and
prosperity, published on 5 February, particularly regarding
children under 5.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
and Social Care () (Con)
The Government welcome the report. We have taken significant
action to improve children’s health in the early years. This
includes reducing sugar in children’s food, supporting healthy
diets for families from lower-income households through schemes
such as Healthy Start, and investing record amounts into
children’s and young people’s mental health services and around
£300 million in the family hubs and Start for Life programmes. We
are also improving children’s oral health through our dentistry
recovery plan.
(Lab)
My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend , who was an incredible
parliamentary servant in both Houses over many years.
I thank the Minister, but he will be aware that we have a
frightening number of people of working age who are not able to
work because of long-term illness. The implication of the academy
report is that we are storing up huge problems for the future. As
one example, 20% of under-fives are obese or overweight. If the
Government are so keen to take action, why have they postponed
the implementation of their obesity strategy, which would start
to take action against unhealthy food and encourage young people
towards more exercise and a healthier lifestyle?
(Con)
First, I add condolences from myself and this side of the House
for .
Secondly, I am grateful for the direction of the report. I think
that we all agree that early investment in childhood, and in
young people, is vital. That is what our vision for the first
1,001 critical days is all about. A lot of the things in the
report are helpful. I must admit that I did not recognise that
particular stat, because rather than it being one in five
children suffering from obesity at age five, the latest
report—and it is an extensive study—shows that it is less than
one in 10. It is the lowest number since 2006-07. So, in the area
of obesity, we can show that our plans are working. I say again:
we have the lowest level of obesity among reception age children
since 2006-07.
(Con)
My Lords, the Food, Diet and Obesity Select Committee, which is
one of the new ad hoc committees, took evidence last week from
specialists in childhood, early years, and school food. The
situation is grave, as the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, said. Some 80%
of the food that children eat is ultra-processed—we have no idea
what the long-term consequences will be. May I encourage the
Minister to look again at the figures and the ultra-processed
foods that we are feeding children—the health consequences of
which are not yet understood?
(Con)
I assure my noble friend that the numbers are correct; they are
the lowest since 2006-07. I can also assure her that free school
meals are at their highest level ever, at 33%. The whole idea
behind those programmes, as well as the Healthy Start in school
and the five-a-day, is to give children healthy diets early on,
exactly as my noble friend says.
(LD)
My Lords, I echo the condolences to Lord McAvoy’s family from
these Benches. I always enjoyed working with him in another
place.
On the Question before us, the Government have rightly been
bigging up the digital revolution in the NHS, but many of the
basic building blocks are still not there. Does the Minister
agree that it would be helpful for the health of infants for
there to be a digital red book, rather than relying on parents
carrying around a physical one? Can he give a timescale for when
we will move on from endless pilots and aspirational
announcements to this being widely available?
(Con)
I totally agree. Funnily enough, I was talking to Minister
Leadsom about this subject just this morning. It is complex,
because all parents need proxy access so that they can get those
digital records for their children automatically. It is something
we are working towards. The Pharmacy First initiative, whereby
you can write data from a pharmacist immediately into GP records,
will help because it will give a road map to do that for children
and babies from hospital. It is something we are working on, and
I will give details of the timeline in writing.
(CB)
My Lords, I declare an interest. I am a fellow of the Academy of
Medical Sciences, which produced this seminal report addressing
issues related to child health. I will pick up two points that
the Minister might comment on. Although he is implementing what
we already know from research works in improving children’s
health, we have no strategy for the implementation of good
practice. My second point is about research into the early years.
Diseases that people may develop later in life can occur as a
result of epigenetic influences during the early years that alter
the genome, yet research into childhood accounts for 5% of total
government research funding.
(Con)
I totally agree about the importance of research and data. We
have spent about £580 million on research in the children and
young persons’ space since 2020. As per the earlier question,
data is vital to this. I saw a fascinating example just a couple
of weeks ago in the Cambridge Research Centre concerning young
children. It is using data to construct what it calls “virtual
children”, to look at rare diseases, how they progress and
different treatments that can be tried. It is truly revolutionary
and something I totally support.
(Lab)
My Lords, I distinctly heard my noble friend Lord Hunt describe
these children as obese and overweight. The Minister has
addressed only obesity. You can be overweight without being
obese, but it means you are on the way to obesity. That is the
serious problem.
(Con)
I think we all agree that it is a very serious problem, so I do
not want to diminish that. I was trying to demonstrate that the
steps we are taking—there is a lot to do in this space—are having
an effect. Noble Lords have heard me say before that our
reformulation efforts mean that everything from Mars Bars and
Snickers to all sorts of other foods are having the sugar content
taken out, so we can make sure they are healthier for people to
enjoy.
(CB)
My Lords, have the Government looked at the idea of bringing back
something like Sure Start? I was involved in Sure Start, and I
saw people breaking down poverty in their lives because of
children coming in and mixing with other healthy children. It was
wonderful. Can we look again at Sure Start?
(Con)
One of the recommendations of the report is a cross-cutting
approach of the kind the noble Lord mentioned to avoid silos. The
family hubs we are investing in alongside the Department for
Education are trying to do exactly that sort of thing to make
sure the healthy start for life exists.
(Lab)
My Lords, these Benches will greatly miss my noble friend . I had the pleasure and
education of serving with him as a Whip in the other place. May
his memory be for a blessing.
The Academy of Medical Sciences report highlights the importance
of continuity of maternity care, which can reduce the likelihood
of pre-term birth by 24%. Given that premature babies are more
likely to have complications that affect vision, hearing,
movement, learning and behaviour, which will all impact later
life, what steps are the Government taking to increase the number
of women receiving dedicated midwifery support throughout their
pregnancies?
(Con)
I agree with the noble Baroness and my noble friend Lady
Cumberlege about the importance of continuity of care in the
maternity space. We are investing resources as part of the
long-term workforce plan to increase the number of people trained
in maternity and in this area generally. To give another example,
we are investing in family nurses by increasing the number of
training places by 74%, because it is understood that we need the
workforce to provide all these services in an ever more complex
world.
(Con)
My Lords, is not one of the problems that children today do not
get anything like the exercise we used to do in the old days?
(Con)
Wearing the tie I was awarded for being man of the match in the
rugby against the Irish parliament this weekend, which we won, I
totally agree about the importance of exercise in all walks of
life. Social prescribing is vital. We are expanding the number of
PE services available for children, because exercise is
vital.
The
My Lords, there is strong evidence that in the early 2000s
increases in child benefits led to an increase in the amount
parents spent on fruit and vegetables and books and toys for
their children. What assessment have the Government made of the
impact of the two-child limit on benefits and, in particular, on
the health and well-being of the 1.5 million children
affected?
(Con)
We recognise very much, as said in the report, the importance of
poverty in all this. We have seen the number children in absolute
poverty decrease by 400,000 since 2010, which is a significant
reduction. The Chancellor’s announcement last week showed the
importance we place on child benefit in getting money to people
to help. It is a very important area.
