Nearly half of all Westminster 10 and 11-year-olds are overweight, health leaders in the central London borough have been told.

Westminster's health leaders were given the latest NHS figures as they work on programmes to address the problem along with a higher-than-average tooth decay rate, as part of plans to reduce local sugar consumption.

Among its neighbours identified by the NHS as similar boroughs, only the boroughs of Brent and Southwark have a higher prevalence of overweight and obese reception pupils than Westminster, a report to councillors and health professionals said.

Westminster also had the second highest rates of obesity among six-year-olds, NHS Digital National Child Measurement Programme figures for 2016/17 showed.

About a quarter of Westminster children aged four to five are obese or overweight, and that rises to 43.1 per cent of 10 to 11-year-olds.

That figure is significantly higher than the London average of 38.5 per cent and England's 34.2 per cent, a report provided to the health leaders said.

Additionally, in Westminster, 35.1 per cent of five-year-olds were already experiencing tooth decay according to 2017 Oral Health Survey figures. That's higher than both the London and England averages.

“This is a really serious issue for us and children's health and can have long-term consequences for children," community resilience manager for public health Christine Mead told Westminster City Council's health board meeting on Thursday.

Cabinet public health leader and board chairman Cllr Heather Acton said dementia, loneliness and sugar were the three key areas the group would be focusing on for Westminster in the coming year.

Children growing up in low income households are more than twice as likely to be obese than those in higher-income households, the report to the board said.

Westminster also had the second highest rates of obesity among six-year-olds

Low-income and ethnic-minority families in the UK are more likely to be affected by obesity, and 2015/16 NHS data suggests this inequality is increasing, as children across the country eat three times more sugar than the maximum daily limit recommended by health experts.

The biggest source of sugar consumed by children is in sugary drinks and snacks, the report said.

This April, the Government introduced a ‘sugar tax’ to levy the soft drinks industry, which has already yielded £131,943 for schools in Westminster to spend on health-related projects.

Work began in 2017 in partnership with Public Health England, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on the Big Bites and Pearly Whites Campaign to raise awareness among families about oral hygiene.

Since February, more than 500 families had received a brief intervention as part of the campaign, the board was told, and Cllr Acton said she would like to see greater numbers of interventions in future.

Westminster's oral health campaign featuring a tooth fairy cartoon educating on dental hygiene was also being shown to school children in the borough.

The board heard that despite information given to parents and carers before their child was born, follow-up health visitors and dental visits, many parents still reported being unaware of the effects of sugar.

The biggest source of sugar consumed by children is in sugary drinks and snacks

However Cllr Acton said Healthwatch's surveys of schoolchildren in the borough showed they appeared well-educated about oral hygiene

The council's Tackling Childhood Obesity Together programme has been in place since 2015 in an effort to reduce local sugar consumption and promote healthy eating, the report to the board said.

It has included healthy lifestyles programmes in schools, work with local businesses to promote healthy food choices, and gardens laid in local nurseries, schools and housing estates.

The council has also removed 15 "no ball games" signs around the borough's housing blocks to encourage active play as part of the campaign.

How overweight are children in your area?

According to NHS Digital's National Child Measurement Programme figures for 2016/17 these are the 10 worst London boroughs neighbouring Westminster ranked for excess weight among children aged four and five, that are statistically similar enough to the borough to compare.

  1. Brent
  2. Southwark
  3. Westminster
  4. Lambeth
  5. Tower Hamlets
  6. Islington
  7. Hammersmith & Fulham
  8. Merton
  9. Kensington & Chelsea
  10. Camden