BRADFORD children have some of the worst rates of tooth decay anywhere in the country, according to a report.

About 40 per cent of five-year-olds in Bradford have tooth decay compared the fewer than 20 per cent in some affluent areas of England.

Within Yorkshire, Bradford ranks alongside Hull and Wakefield with the highest percentage nationally of young children with tooth decay.

In neighbouring Kirklees the tooth decay rate is slightly more than 38 per cent and in Calderdale is stands at a little over 33 per cent.

Bradford also fares badly on the percentage of children achieving a good level of development by the end of reception (55 per cent), compared with 61 per cent in Kirklees.

The report by the National Children's Bureau looks at the dramatic differences in the health and development of children in different parts of the country.

It concludes that health is closely linked to the affluence of the area they grow up in, with those living in deprived areas - including Bradford - far more likely to suffer poor health.

However, the data shows that poor early health is not inevitable for children growing up in deprived areas. Several areas with high levels of deprivation buck the trend and achieve better than expected results, suggesting that more work is needed to understand how local strategies and programmes can make a difference.

Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of the National Children’s Bureau said: "It is shocking that two children growing up in neighbouring areas can expect such a wildly different quality of health.

"As these variations are closely linked to poverty, with those in areas with the highest levels of deprivation more likely to suffer from a range of health issues, we have to ask whether England is becoming a nation of two halves?

"The link between poverty and poor health is not inevitable. Work is urgently needed to understand how local health services can lessen the impact of living in a deprived area.

"We need local and national government to make the same efforts to narrow the gap in health outcomes across the country for under-fives as has been made to narrow the gap in achievement between poor and rich pupils in school.

"Government must make it a national mission over the next five years to ensure that the heath and development of the first five years of a child’s life is improved."

Cheryll Adams, chief executive of the Institute of Health Visitors, said: "Trends in inequalities in health can be complex as this report suggests, with poverty not always being associated with poor health outcomes.

"Although the greatest need is often concentrated in many poor communities, the majority of need, whilst less concentrated, is in fact in the rest of the population which is so much larger in number.

"Health services must continue to be commissioned to recognise risk and intervene early in the life cycle, in pregnancy and the very early years, as this can have the greatest impact on improving health and development."

The report calls on the government to set out a renewed strategy to improve the health and development of children and families in the early years, and further investigate the variations uncovered in the report and how they relate to local health initiatives.