Labour will introduce supervised toothbrushing for young children in free breakfast clubs if it wins the next election, as part of plans to boost the health of children across the country.
Announcing plans to boost dental services to ensure children can get appointments when they need one, party leader Keir Starmer has said tooth decay should be “consigned to the history books” as he a
Labour had previously said it would introduce supervised toothbrushing in schools for children aged three to five. But the announcement faced a backlash from teaching unions, who argued it is “not the role of teachers to be making sure children brush their teeth each day”.
Labour now says it will introduce a “targeted” national supervised toothbrushing programme to be rolled out in “fully funded breakfast clubs”.
Speaking yesterday, Keir Starmer vowed to boost dental services to ensure children can get appointments when they need one as part of a plan to create the “healthiest and happiest generation of children”.
Asked by reporters if supervised toothbrushing for three to five-year-olds was nanny state politics, Starmer said: “We want to encourage good parenting, but I don’t think we can just turn our back on it.”
He added: “When I first read the statistic that for six to 10-year-olds that the biggest admission to hospitals I was really struck. That is shocking – and I don’t think you can simply say, ‘That’s none of our business’”.
“It’s saying there is a role for the state in this,” he said – adding that he was “up for that fight”.
Other aspects of Labour’s child health action plan, which is being launched today, include introducing a 9 pm watershed for junk food ads, banning vape adverts aimed at children, better access to mental health support, cutting waiting times for hospital care for children, ensuring more dental appointments and making sure child health is a cross-government priority.
The Labour leader also told reporters yesterday: “Frankly if this was a parent who had treated children this badly – as badly as the UK government – they would probably be charged with neglect.”
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