Sir Keir said he wanted to give children the “best possible start in life”; Photo: Labor Party
Labour has vowed to «fight for a nanny state» to protect Britain's children as part of a raft of reforms.
Children to be jabbed at home in bid to boost vaccination rates plans to recruit thousands of extra health workers trained and given expanded roles, The Telegraph reports.
Sir Keir Starmer will announce the measures on Thursday as part of the Children's Health Action Plan, which also promises breakfast clubs in every primary school, supervised teeth brushing, a 9pm break for junk food advertising and a ban on vaping advertising aimed at children. /p>
Highlighting international research that shows British children are now shorter, fatter and less happy than their peers, the Labor Party has vowed to “end the scandal over children's poor health”.
Sir Keir said his party was happy to be accused of planning a nanny state intervention and accused the Government of «neglecting» a generation.
He said, “I know we need to look into this issue.” nanny states. The moment you say that you want to do something for the children's health, people say that you will have a lot of nanny responsibilities. We want to lead this fight.»
Measles cases have tripled.
Uptake of childhood vaccinations has fallen sharply since the pandemic, with the latest data showing declines in 12 of 14 childhood vaccinations, including MMR, in 2022/23.
Official figures show the number of measles cases in England has more than tripled in the past year.
The role of health visitors will be expanded so staff can administer vaccinations rather than simply persuade parents, according to plans. take their children to a GP, with the number of staff training doubling every year. Official figures show the number of post office health visitors in England has almost halved since 2015: 4,400 fewer.
Sir Keir said Labor would «give children the best start in life by protecting children from diseases that are in the history books.»
“My Labor government will train thousands of health workers and introduce radical reforms to the National Health Service to boost vaccinations and put children on the right track in life.”
The plans will mean a free breakfast club in every primary school, as well as supervised teeth cleaning for children aged 3 to 5 in areas with the worst decay.
When asked about the role of parents and parents in deciding on what children should eat and when they should brush their teeth, Sir Keir replied: “Obviously we want to encourage good parenting, but I don't think we can just turn our backs on it.
“And one of the offerings we're putting forward is supervised teeth cleaning for three to five-year-olds, and a lot of people say, 'Oh, it's a nanny state.'
“I have to say that When I first read the statistics that among children aged 6 to 10, the leading cause of hospitalization was decayed teeth, I was truly amazed.
“It's shocking and I don't know, I don't I think we should say that this is not our business, this is our business. Just to get to the other side and say, 'It's not my responsibility, who cares,' I'm ready for that fight.»
He added: “Tooth decay, stunted growth and reduced life expectancy.” should be consigned to the history books, but instead they are the reality of Conservative Britain.»
Unveiling its plans on Thursday at a leading children's hospital, Labor will highlight research showing British children are fatter, shorter and much less happy than their peers.
Meanwhile, British teenagers are among the least happy in the world: research from 15 major Western countries places them second only to Japan.
Only 57.1% 15- of summer schoolchildren agreed that their lives had “clear meaning or purpose,” compared with 66.6% in Italy and 71.5% in France.
Children in other Western countries are growing much taller than in Britain.
Health experts say the modern diet is heavily reliant on junk food. food means that many children grow up malnourished, causing their growth to be stunted.
The height of the average British five-year-old girl has fallen 27 places in international rankings over the past three decades. According to international rankings, British girls are now shorter than girls in Portugal, Turkey and Brazil.
The average five-year-old boy in the UK has dropped 33 places in the height rankings, with boys in Egypt, Haiti, Ukraine and Argentina at on average higher.
Back in 1989, the average height of five-year-old girls in the UK was 111.1 cm. According to research by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, this was the 69th tallest group in the world.
< p>Thirty years later, in 2019 they have grown to 111.7 cm, but thanks to faster growth rates among international peers they have dropped 27 places to 96th place in the ranking. This means British girls are now shorter than girls in Portugal (113.1cm), Turkey (113.4cm) and Brazil (113.6cm).
The average British five-year-old boy has dropped by 33 positions in the height ranking table, from 71st place (111.6 cm) to 102nd place (112.5 cm). Boys in Egypt (117.2 cm), Haiti (116 cm), Ukraine (116 cm) and Argentina (114.2 cm) are now taller on average.
Labour said the plans would be funded by the abolition of non-resident status. Promises to increase the number of trained health workers from 770 to 1,340 a year are already part of plans to expand the NHS workforce.
Sir Keir said his party was focusing on children's health because children are «probably the most great victim of band-aid politics over the last 14 years.”
«Frankly, if this parent treated their children as poorly, as poorly as the UK government, they would probably be accused of neglect,» he said.
Commenting on Labour's teeth-brushing plans, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: «While it is good to see that teeth-brushing enforcement will not be part of the school day itself or an expectation of teachers, we remain somewhat skeptical about how this will work in practice. .
“Questions remain about access to the facilities needed to implement the proposal and the staffing implications for breakfast clubs.”
“Undeliverable promises”
Andrea Leadsom, the health minister, said : «Considering the views of Sir Keir Starmer.» the country's plan is a failure, he should focus on fixing his own house before criticizing others.
“In Wales, Labor controls the longest hospital waits in the UK. It is the only administration to have slashed the NHS budget since 2010, underfunded the NHS and consistently missed targets.
“Labour's unfunded promises of health spending in England will cost taxpayers billions of dollars on top of the promise the £28 billion a year cost they have already committed to by 2030, and will inevitably raise taxes to fund it.
“It’s the same old Labor, more spending and more taxes. The Conservative Government is taking long-term decisions to protect the health of future generations, including creating a new smoke-free generation, protecting all our children from harmful vaping and creating family centers across England to support every family to give their child the best start in life.
A government spokesman said: “We have taken significant action to improve children's health, both now and in the long term.”
“This includes sharply cutting sugar in children's food. , investing more than £600 million in improving the quality of sport for children and encouraging healthy eating for low-income families through schemes such as Healthy Start.
“We are also investing an additional 2.3 billion pounds per year. Mental health services have seen a 14 per cent increase in the number of children seen by NHS dentists this year, and we are taking steps to reduce vaping among young people and create the first ever smoke-free generation.
“Reducing waiting lists are one of the government's top five priorities. Despite ongoing pressure on the NHS, we have reduced the overall waiting list and the number of individual patients waiting for treatment compared to the previous month.»
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