Councils have been calling for the Government to take tough action on sugar including reducing the amount of sugar in soft drinks and introducing teaspoon labelling on the front of products.
Key messages
- Tooth decay is largely preventable, yet it is the most common oral disease affecting children and young people in England.
- In 2016, there were more than 40,000 hospital operations to remove teeth in children and teenagers. This is the equivalent of more than 160 a day.1 The excessive consumption of sugary food and drink and poor oral hygiene is likely to be a major cause behind the high number of cases.
- Councils have been calling for the Government to take tough action on sugar including reducing the amount of sugar in soft drinks and introducing teaspoon labelling on the front of products. As local government is responsible for public health, local government should be given a say in deciding how and where the revenue from the soft drinks levy is spent.
- Good public health has the potential to make a big difference to our society. It prevents the development of physical and mental ill-health later in life, improves people’s wellbeing and reduces pressures on other vital services such as social care and the NHS. Every £1 spent on public health in UK saves an average of £14
- Despite the potential benefits of public health services, local authorities face a £331 million reduction to their public health budget, on top of a £200 million reduction announced in 2015. This is why we are calling on the Government to use the Autumn Budget to cancel future reductions to public health grant and return funding that was cut since April 2015.
- The Government needs to invest in prevention and early intervention. A Prevention Transformation Fund worth £1 billion would enable some double running of new investment in preventative services alongside ‘business as usual’ in the current system, until savings can be realised and reinvested into the system as part of wider local prevention strategies.
Download the full briefing
Debate on children’s oral health, House of Commons, Tuesday 31 October 2017