Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce the consumption of junk food among children.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Department promotes the Eatwell Guide principles through platforms such as the National Health Service website and social marketing campaigns including Healthier Families and Better Health. More information on the marketing campaigns is available at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/
https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/
We have taken action to empower people to make healthier food choices, which includes implementing regulations in 2022 on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses including restaurants, cafes and takeaways and restricting the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations in store and online. We are committed to bringing forward further measures by 2025, restricting adverts on television for less healthy foods and drinks before the 9pm watershed, as well as paid-for adverts online and restricting volume price promotions of less healthy foods such as buy-one-get-one-free offers.
Measures to restrict advertising are underpinned by evidence which suggests that exposure to high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) advertising can affect what and when children eat, shaping children’s food preferences from a young age. Over time, excess consumption can lead to children becoming overweight or obese, all of which puts their future health at risk. This evidence is referenced in the recent consultation from December 2022, Introducing further advertising restrictions on TV and online for products high in fat, salt or sugar: consultation on secondary legislation. We will publish the response to the consultation in due course. More information on the consultation is available at the following link:
Through our Healthy Food Schemes, the Government provides a nutritional safety net to those who need it the most. Healthy Start, Nursery Milk and the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme together help more than three million children. Over £200 million is devoted to the Healthy Food Schemes each year to reflect this commitment.
The School Food Standards are set in legislation and require school caterers to serve healthy and nutritious food and drinks to ensure children get the energy and nutrition they need throughout the school day. The standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, those which are restricted to a minimum, and those which must not be provided. HFSS foods are restricted.
Education around healthy eating is also covered through several curriculum subjects including design and technology, science and health education. The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that by the end of primary school, pupils should know what constitutes a healthy diet; the principles of planning and preparing a range of healthy meals; the characteristics of a poor diet; and risks associated with unhealthy eating.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help encourage the consumption of healthy foods by children.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Department promotes the Eatwell Guide principles through platforms such as the National Health Service website and social marketing campaigns including Healthier Families and Better Health. More information on the marketing campaigns is available at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/
https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/
We have taken action to empower people to make healthier food choices, which includes implementing regulations in 2022 on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses including restaurants, cafes and takeaways and restricting the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations in store and online. We are committed to bringing forward further measures by 2025, restricting adverts on television for less healthy foods and drinks before the 9pm watershed, as well as paid-for adverts online and restricting volume price promotions of less healthy foods such as buy-one-get-one-free offers.
Measures to restrict advertising are underpinned by evidence which suggests that exposure to high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) advertising can affect what and when children eat, shaping children’s food preferences from a young age. Over time, excess consumption can lead to children becoming overweight or obese, all of which puts their future health at risk. This evidence is referenced in the recent consultation from December 2022, Introducing further advertising restrictions on TV and online for products high in fat, salt or sugar: consultation on secondary legislation. We will publish the response to the consultation in due course. More information on the consultation is available at the following link:
Through our Healthy Food Schemes, the Government provides a nutritional safety net to those who need it the most. Healthy Start, Nursery Milk and the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme together help more than three million children. Over £200 million is devoted to the Healthy Food Schemes each year to reflect this commitment.
The School Food Standards are set in legislation and require school caterers to serve healthy and nutritious food and drinks to ensure children get the energy and nutrition they need throughout the school day. The standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, those which are restricted to a minimum, and those which must not be provided. HFSS foods are restricted.
Education around healthy eating is also covered through several curriculum subjects including design and technology, science and health education. The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that by the end of primary school, pupils should know what constitutes a healthy diet; the principles of planning and preparing a range of healthy meals; the characteristics of a poor diet; and risks associated with unhealthy eating.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists have been recruited since the launch of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Since the launch of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan on 30 June 2023, there has been an increase of 1,144 dentists registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) in England. From 15 January 2023 to 15 December 2023 there has been an increase of 1,423 dentists registered with the GDC in England.
The Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The focus is not short-term recruitment but putting workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.
We will expand dentistry training places by 40% so that there are over 1,100 places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of the number of children admitted to hospital because of dental related emergencies in the last year.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
In 2022/23, 29,318 children aged between five and 17 years old admitted to hospital had the primary diagnosis of tooth decay. The available data does not identify planned and emergency admissions separately.
We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make National Health Service work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to publish the Dentistry Recovery Plan.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan, to be published shortly, which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make National Health Service work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver NHS care.
Our Dentistry Recovery Plan will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022, which included changes to banding and the introduction of a minimum Units of Dental Activity value.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential relationship between oral cancer detection rates and the availability of dentists.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Every dental check-up constitutes as an oral cancer screening. The NHS Dental statistics for England, 2022-23, Annual report highlights that 1.8 million adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the 24 months up to 30 June 2023, with 24,151 dentists performing NHS activity during 2022/23.
NHS England’s comprehensive Early Diagnosis strategy is based on six core strands of activity, from raising awareness of cancer symptoms and encouraging people to come forward, to implementing targeted interventions for particular cancer types that we know have previously experienced later stages of diagnosis, including oral cancers.
We encourage people to get in touch with their general practitioner if they notice or are worried about symptoms that could be cancer. NHS England is running the ‘Help Us, Help You’ (HUHY) campaign, which seeks to address the barriers that are deterring patients from accessing the NHS. The current HUHY campaign is focused on addressing fear of cancer as a barrier to presentation across all cancer types.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of dentists taking on new patients compared to patient demand.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
National Health Service dental activity as measured by Courses of Treatments delivered has increased by 23% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles regularly, to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care. From 1 April 2023, the commissioning responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs became responsible for having local processes in place to involve patient groups, and for undertaking oral health needs assessments, to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help improve (a) recruitment and (b) retention of dentists.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
As set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, we are going to increase dentistry training places by 40% so that there are over 1,100 places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.
As the Workforce Plan sets out, the National Health Service and the Government will explore whether a tie-in would ensure that dentists spend a greater proportion of their time delivering NHS dental care.
We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan, to be published shortly, which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver NHS care.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of incentives for dentists to work in areas with the most urgent needs.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
We acknowledge that there are areas of the country that are experiencing recruitment and retention issues and we are taking steps to address the workforce challenges across the country. We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan, to be published shortly, which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make National Health Service work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver NHS care.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made a recent estimate of the average waiting time for a dentist appointment for residents of Portsmouth.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. NHS dentists hold a contract to provide NHS dentistry. Therefore, there is no centrally held record of an average waiting time for a dentist appointment.