Children\u2019s\u00a0health\u00a0and food<\/p>\n
Food is a good place to start.\u00a0A recent House of Lords committee report<\/a> found that food-related ill health costs\u00a0society equivalent to 1\u20132% of GDP a year.<\/p>\n Here the government\u00a0deserves\u00a0credit.\u00a0The recent commitment to extend free school meals to children from families on universal credit<\/a>, along with the introduction of the new Healthy Food Standard\u00a0\u2013 which mandates a target for sales of healthy food, against which all large food businesses will report \u2013 will help more children access the nutritious food they need.<\/p>\n Policies like the\u00a0Soft Drinks Industry Levy<\/a>\u00a0also show\u00a0what works.\u00a0Since its introduction, sugar sold in soft drinks has fallen by more than a third without harming sales\u00a0and\u00a0the same\u00a0principle\u00a0has\u00a0been extended to milk-based drinks.<\/p>\n The government should now introduce\u00a0a new levy that incentivises manufacturers to make a wider range of products healthier. This would reward\u00a0responsible\u00a0businesses, spur innovation and reflect public demand: 68% of adults back an extension of the levy, and three quarters want\u00a0the revenue reinvested in children\u2019s health.<\/p>\n A serious child poverty strategy<\/p>\n Millions of children are growing up in poverty and insecure housing. Poverty in childhood leads to poorer health, lower educational attainment and lower lifetime earnings. Reducing child poverty should be viewed as an economic reform, not a welfare cost.<\/p>\n The\u00a0two-child limit<\/a>\u00a0on universal credit and tax credits is one of the most significant drivers of child poverty,\u00a0pushing\u00a0hundreds of thousands into hardship. Abolishing it would lift\u00a0350,000 children out of poverty\u00a0and reduce deprivation for\u00a0700,000 more.\u00a0At around \u00a32 billion a year, the long-term return in health and productivity would far outweigh the cost.<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n Clean air, fair growth<\/p>\n Air pollution is another silent\u00a0drag\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0economy.\u00a0It\u00a0contributes to\u00a0up to\u00a043,000 deaths a year\u00a0in the UK and costs\u00a0the economy\u00a0\u00a327bn\u00a0every year\u00a0through hospital admissions, lost productivity and premature deaths. Its impacts fall disproportionately on\u00a0children\u00a0and people in lower income areas or from racialised communities.<\/p>\n Around a third of emissions in urban areas come from industrial and commercial sources, yet businesses are rarely incentivised to\u00a0change. The Treasury could introduce\u00a0tiered business rates relief\u00a0to reward companies that measure and reduce\u00a0harmful emissions such as PM2.5. This would reward those investing in cleaner operations and level the playing field between polluters and responsible firms.<\/p>\n London\u2019s progress shows what is possible, but extending such incentives nationally\u00a0would accelerate improvements in air quality, delivering healthier communities and a stronger economy.<\/p>\n Growth that lasts<\/p>\n This budget will be defined by hard choices. But some of the smartest decisions don\u2019t require\u00a0big spending, just a clearer vision of what drives long-term growth. Policies that create cleaner air, fairer opportunities and healthier environments will pay for themselves through lower NHS<\/a> demand, higher productivity and stronger communities.<\/p>\n Growth built on poor health is fragile. Growth built on\u00a0improving the health of society\u00a0is\u00a0sustainable. If the government truly wants to\u00a0go for growth,\u00a0it must start by improving the conditions that allow people to live healthy\u00a0lives.<\/p>\n Peter Babudu is executive director of Impact on Urban Health<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Change a vendor\u2019s life this Christmas.<\/strong><\/p>\n Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week \u2013 or support online with a\u00a0vendor support kit<\/a>\u00a0or a\u00a0subscription<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and help people work their way out of poverty with dignity.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s\u00a0health\u00a0and food Food is a good place to start.\u00a0A recent House of Lords committee report found that food-related…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[362,748,393,7056,4884,105,13975,1144,391,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-581920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-autumn-budget","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-from-the-magazine","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-health-and-wellbeing","17":"tag-northern-ireland","18":"tag-opinion","19":"tag-scotland","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115580460265215328","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}