Cornwall, Wiltshire and Bristol amongst top 15 authorities nationwide where the total savings and health benefits of a sugary drinks duty would be highest
New research, published by the Children's Food Campaign in association with University of Liverpool academic Brendan Collins and Food Active, shows that if the government introduced a 20 pence per litre sugary drinks duty in England, then the impact in the South West of England over twenty years would be to:
- reduce the cases of diabetes by nearly 5,500
- prevent over 800 cases of bowel cancer
- reduce strokes and cases of coronary heart disease by almost 3,500
- save the NHS over £1.5 million a year in healthcare costs for treating those diseases
- improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of residents
The impact on calorie reduction would be greatest in places such as Swindon, Bristol and South Gloucestershire, which have the highest relative proportion of younger demographics who typically consume the most sugary drinks. The local authorities in South West England set to gain the most total savings and health benefits from a sugary drinks duty are (in order): Cornwall, Wiltshire, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Plymouth – due partly to their larger population sizes. View the impact in your local area www.childrenshealthfund.org.uk
Sarah Watson, spokesperson for Bournemouth and Poole Sustainable Food City Partnership:
“Part of our work is to improve the health and wellbeing of people across Bournemouth and Poole. We back moves for a sugary drinks duty to be introduced nationally as we feel this would have a positive impact on people’s health, particularly on the lives of our children and young people.”
Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, said:
“Public health directors in North West England and in Cardiff, as well as the London Health Commission, have publicly backed a sugary drinks duty. We hope this new research encourages public health directors in South West England to join their counterparts in calling for the government to introduce a nationwide duty.”
Table 1: impact of a sugary drinks duty in South West England
This table is in order of greatest health cost savings over a 20 year period
Area Name |
Reduction in calories per day-mid |
Estimated change in diabetes cases over 20 years |
Estimated change in Stroke/CHD cases over 20 years |
Estimated change in Cancer cases over 20 years |
Estimated QALYs gained over 20 years |
Total health cost savings over 20 years |
Cornwall UA |
6.28 |
-511 |
-348 |
-91 |
8593 |
£3,111,309 |
Wiltshire UA |
6.52 |
-443 |
-302 |
-79 |
7453 |
£2,698,464 |
Bristol UA |
6.67 |
-389 |
-265 |
-70 |
6548 |
£2,370,682 |
South Gloucestershire UA |
6.58 |
-265 |
-180 |
-47 |
4455 |
£1,612,888 |
Plymouth UA |
6.54 |
-246 |
-168 |
-44 |
4146 |
£1,501,211 |
Swindon UA |
6.71 |
-205 |
-140 |
-37 |
3447 |
£1,248,178 |
North Somerset UA |
6.31 |
-198 |
-135 |
-35 |
3324 |
£1,203,571 |
South Somerset CD |
6.32 |
-158 |
-108 |
-28 |
2666 |
£965,082 |
Bath and North East Somerset UA |
6.47 |
-155 |
-106 |
-28 |
2615 |
£946,831 |
Bournemouth UA |
6.43 |
-148 |
-101 |
-26 |
2492 |
£902,206 |
Torbay UA |
6.18 |
-141 |
-96 |
-25 |
2379 |
£861,270 |
Poole UA |
6.34 |
-131 |
-89 |
-23 |
2208 |
£799,336 |
Gloucester CD |
6.67 |
-126 |
-86 |
-23 |
2124 |
£768,875 |
Teignbridge CD |
6.20 |
-121 |
-83 |
-22 |
2038 |
£738,007 |
East Devon CD |
5.99 |
-120 |
-82 |
-22 |
2025 |
£733,252 |
Sedgemoor CD |
6.40 |
-117 |
-80 |
-21 |
1965 |
£711,305 |
Mendip CD |
6.50 |
-109 |
-75 |
-20 |
1840 |
£666,144 |
Exeter CD |
6.50 |
-109 |
-74 |
-19 |
1830 |
£662,507 |
Stroud CD |
6.45 |
-105 |
-71 |
-19 |
1762 |
£637,779 |
Taunton Deane CD |
6.41 |
-102 |
-70 |
-18 |
1719 |
£622,434 |
Cheltenham CD |
6.53 |
-93 |
-63 |
-17 |
1558 |
£564,055 |
Forest of Dean CD |
6.41 |
-89 |
-61 |
-16 |
1504 |
£544,689 |
North Devon CD |
6.27 |
-87 |
-59 |
-16 |
1465 |
£530,349 |
West Dorset CD |
6.09 |
-86 |
-58 |
-15 |
1442 |
£522,087 |
Tewkesbury CD |
6.36 |
-76 |
-52 |
-14 |
1273 |
£461,072 |
South Hams CD |
6.17 |
-74 |
-50 |
-13 |
1245 |
£450,797 |
Cotswold CD |
6.25 |
-74 |
-50 |
-13 |
1240 |
£448,797 |
East Dorset CD |
5.97 |
-72 |
-49 |
-13 |
1218 |
£441,003 |
Torridge CD |
6.19 |
-68 |
-46 |
-12 |
1138 |
£411,859 |
Mid Devon CD |
6.39 |
-67 |
-46 |
-12 |
1125 |
£407,231 |
Weymouth and Portland CD |
6.33 |
-66 |
-45 |
-12 |
1109 |
£401,597 |
North Dorset CD |
6.40 |
-65 |
-44 |
-12 |
1096 |
£396,648 |
West Devon CD |
6.20 |
-48 |
-33 |
-9 |
808 |
£292,459 |
Purbeck CD |
6.17 |
-46 |
-31 |
-8 |
773 |
£279,871 |
Christchurch CD |
5.90 |
-38 |
-26 |
-7 |
631 |
£228,500 |
West Somerset CD |
5.86 |
-35 |
-24 |
-6 |
583 |
£210,916 |
Isles of Scilly UA |
6.03 |
-2 |
-1 |
0 |
29 |
£10,470 |
Totals |
6.32 |
-4986 |
-3398 |
-891 |
83863 |
£30,363,734 |
Table 2: Top 15 local authorities in England with greatest cost savings
This table is in order of greatest health cost savings over a 20 year period
Region |
Area Name |
Reduction in calories per day-mid |
Estimated change in diabetes cases (over 20 years) |
Estimated change in Stroke/CHD cases (over 20 years) |
Estimated change in Cancer cases (over 20 years) |
Estimated QALYs gained (over 20 years) |
Total health cost savings (over 20 years) (£) |
West Midlands |
Birmingham MCD |
6.84 |
-1,049 |
-715 |
-188 |
17,651 |
6,390,832 |
Yorkshire and The Humber |
Leeds MCD |
6.62 |
-801 |
-546 |
-143 |
13,475 |
4,878,838 |
North East |
Durham UA |
6.45 |
-570 |
-388 |
-102 |
9,582 |
3,469,422 |
South West |
Cornwall UA |
6.28 |
-511 |
-348 |
-91 |
8,593 |
3,111,309 |
Yorkshire and The Humber |
Sheffield MCD |
6.59 |
-506 |
-345 |
-90 |
8,507 |
3,080,144 |
Yorkshire and The Humber |
Bradford MCD |
6.82 |
-500 |
-341 |
-89 |
8,411 |
3,045,486 |
South West |
Wiltshire UA |
6.52 |
-443 |
-302 |
-79 |
7,453 |
2,698,464 |
Yorkshire and The Humber |
Kirklees MCD |
6.66 |
-425 |
-290 |
-76 |
7,150 |
2,588,923 |
North West |
Liverpool MCD |
6.65 |
-405 |
-276 |
-72 |
6,820 |
2,469,206 |
North West |
Manchester MCD |
6.89 |
-404 |
-275 |
-72 |
6,788 |
2,457,657 |
South West |
Bristol UA |
6.67 |
-389 |
-265 |
-70 |
6,548 |
2,370,682 |
Yorkshire and The Humber |
Wakefield MCD |
6.53 |
-362 |
-247 |
-65 |
6,088 |
2,204,109 |
Yorkshire and The Humber |
East Riding of Yorkshire UA |
6.30 |
-334 |
-228 |
-60 |
5,626 |
2,037,032 |
Yorkshire and The Humber |
Doncaster MCD |
6.55 |
-332 |
-226 |
-59 |
5,582 |
2,020,975 |
North East |
Northumberland UA |
6.35 |
-331 |
-225 |
-59 |
5,560 |
2,012,979 |
Quality-adjusted life year (QALY) is a measure of the state of health of a person in which the benefits, in terms of length of life, are adjusted to reflect the quality of life. One QALY is equal to 1 year of life in perfect health. It is often measured in terms of the person's ability to perform the activities of daily life, free from pain and mental disturbance.
The Children's Food Campaign is a campaign of Sustain the alliance for better food and farming.
Full data sources and methodology can be viewed at www.childrenshealthfund.org.uk
Published Wednesday 18 March 2015
Sugary Drinks Duty: Support the campaign for a sugary drinks duty, to pay for programmes to improve childrens health and protect the environment they grow up in.