Nine-per-cent of Kirklees pre-schoolers obese

The figures, produced by the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), look at levels of obesity, tooth decay, injury and early childhood development for under-fives across England.

However the overall statistics show that children in the Kirklees area live in one of the least-deprived areas in England, coming 58th out of 150 local authorities in the charity’s Deprivation Extent Rankings.

Across Kirklees, 511 four and five-year-olds - or nine per cent - suffer from obesity.

2,109 children, or 38.5 per cent, were already showing signs of tooth decay. The national average is 25 per cent.

Children aged 0-4 were also less likely than most to be admitted to hospital due to injury. The Kirklees figure was 143 per 10,000 children.

The bureau also recorded 61.3 per cent of children are achiveing good level of development by the end of reception, compared to 60.4 per cent nationally.