According to the report by the National Audit Office (NAO) published today (9 September), progress towards the goal has been ‘slow’ and uncoordinated, while child obesity rates continue to worsen in some parts of the UK.
In 2018-19 almost a 10th of four- and five-year-olds and a fifth of 10- and 11-year-olds in England were obese. Those living in deprived areas and from ethnic minorities backgrounds are also far more likely to be obese.
Treatment of obesity-related conditions in England costs the NHS an estimated £6.1 billion each year. Successive governments have tried to tackle the problem of childhood obesity but with limited success.
Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said that progress has been ‘slow’ and that many commitments are ‘not yet in place’.
The Government’s 2016 Childhood Obesity Plan stated the aim to halve childhood obesity and to reduce the gap in obesity between children from the most and least deprived areas, by 2030.
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