Assembly backs dentists’ call for sugary drinks ban in Welsh schools

In a report on the Public Health Wales Bill published recently, assembly members on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee recommended the minister make the ban a key priority for public health alongside reform of nutritional standards in early years, care homes and hospitals; and strengthening the wellbeing plans of local health boards.

Soft drinks are the biggest source of sugar in the diet of children and teenagers. BDA Wales had asked assembly members to use their powers under the Healthy Eating in Schools (Wales) Measure to ban any drinks with added sugar from school settings to improve oral health among children and young people.

Dentists’ leaders had previously expressed concerns that oral health had not even been mentioned in the Welsh Government’s programme Taking Wales Forward. This had raised question marks over the future of the pioneering preventive initiative Designed to Smile, which, according to Cardiff University, has reduced dental decay rates in children by a quarter between 2007 and 2015. BDA Wales has called for the expansion of the programme.