Experts say downward trend is slight, pointing to growing gap between better and worse-off children, and urge government to wake up to obesity figures

Fewer obese children are starting in school reception classes in England, according to results from the school measurement programme, but a fifth still start their school life overweight and a third are overweight or obese by the time they leave for secondary school.

In the last year, 9.1% of children starting reception were obese, compared with 9.5% in 2013-14, according to the health and social care information service that collects the data from the national school measurement programme. In 2005-6 when significant data was first collected, the figure was 9.9%.



Over a fifth of the children (21.9%), who are aged four and five, are still overweight or obese, but that, again, is a drop from last year, when it was 22.5%.

By the time children leave primary school, aged 10 or 11, the situation has always been worse, with a third either overweight or obese. The new figures show there is no change in the proportion of obese children in year 6, which is 19.1%, the same as last year. But there is a slight drop again in the numbers who are either overweight or obese, from 33.5% to 33.2%.

The downward trend is slight. Some experts say the drop in the numbers of overweight and obese young children who are just starting school is a positive sign, because it suggests families are picking up messages about healthier eating. Others say progress is not fast enough and point to the growing gap between the better-off and worse-off children. Obesity in deprived areas is double the levels in affluent parts of the country, a trend that has also been seen in the US, where child-obesity rates have also been dropping.

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A spokesperson for the Children’s Food Trust said: “These figures are staying stubbornly similar from year to year – bringing the government’s forthcoming childhood obesity strategy into even sharper focus.

“That the proportion of obese children in poorer areas is double that of more affluent areas is a particularly worrying sign for the health of our most vulnerable children.”

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) was troubled by the number of overweight children leaving primary school.

Simon Gillespie, the chief executive of the BHF, said: “Falling rates of obesity in reception age children is promising, but the fact remains we now have more children leaving primary school overweight or obese and this is simply unacceptable.

“Without a robust plan to tackle this issue, obesity rates will not fall, putting future generations at risk of deadly conditions like heart disease, diabetes and stroke.”

He said: “The government urgently needs to introduce a range of measures including a 9pm watershed ban on junk food marketing as well as greater restrictions on online advertising. This would support parents and families to protect their children’s health.

“We hope these figures act as a wake-up call to the government as they prepare to release their childhood obesity strategy in the New Year.”

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Alison Cox, the director of cancer prevention at Cancer Research UK, called the numbers alarming.

She said: “It’s shocking to see more than one in five children are overweight or obese when they enter primary school, and this increases to one in three when they leave. Overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults, and being overweight could cause 10 types of cancer.

“There’s an urgent need for the government to tackle obesity, starting with junk food marketing which we know influences what food children prefer. To prevent the next generation becoming obese, the government must act immediately to ban junk food ads before 9pm as part of a comprehensive children’s obesity strategy to help prevent thousands of cancer cases.”

Public Health England said tacking child obesity was one of its major priorities. Eustace de Sousa, the national lead for children, young people and families at Public Health England, said: “While it is encouraging to see that overweight and obesity in children are levelling off, these figures are still unacceptably high and much worse in the poorest areas.

“The doubling of obesity levels between ages four and 11 is deeply concerning and highlights that much more needs to be done to help children and families.”

Tam Fry of the Child Growth Foundation, who is also a spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said the fall in the figures was heartening, “but before we celebrate them too much, remember two things. Firstly, yesterday’s boost to the NHS in the chancellor’s spending review does not apply to local government budgets responsible for containing childhood obesity. It is the town hall’s job to tackle the epidemic and real cuts to their funding will make it harder for them to bring the figures down further.

“Secondly, central government is still off-target to reduce obesity rates to their 2000 levels. Whatever the figures are today, they are still a disgraceful illustration of the ineptitude of Whitehall to tackle one of the UK’s most serious health problems.”