The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)
My Lords, I welcome the Food, Diet and Obesity Committee report. Like many noble Lords, I express gratitude to the chair, the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, and to all members of her committee for their dedication and insight into improving the health of the nation. My thanks also go to those who contributed their time and expertise in providing evidence and support for the committee’s work. As noble Lords will be aware, the Government published their response to the report on 30 January following the publication of the committee’s report in October.
This has indeed been a very valuable debate, and I am grateful to all noble Lords for their wisdom, experience and contributions. It has been acknowledged throughout that one thing we are in full agreement about is the characterisation of the problem as set out in the report. As highlighted by many noble Lords, including the noble Baronesses, Lady Manzoor and Lady Meyer, and my noble friend Lady Brown, we face a childhood obesity crisis. Well over a third of children are living with obesity or are overweight by the time they leave primary school. It is not equal across the country. This is a matter that disproportionately affects those in disadvantaged areas. As the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, highlighted, among other things, we also have some two-thirds of adults overweight or living with obesity.
The impact is huge, increasing the risk of many serious diseases, exacerbating mental health issues and reducing the years lived in good health, as the noble Lord, Lord Bethell, bringing to bear his experience as a former Health Minister, rightly observed. We know that prevention will always be better than cure. The noble Baroness, Lady Manzoor, referred to the evidence on this found by the noble Lord, Lord Darzi, on which he commented strongly. It will form one of the three pillars of the 10-year health plan. It is also why prevention is at the heart of our health mission.
As noble Lords know, I really do not like to disappoint them and particularly do not like to disappoint the chair of the committee, the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. I heard not just from the noble Baroness but from others their observations, which included disappointment at the Government’s response. I hear that and will endeavour to respond in a way that I hope noble Lords will find helpful to alleviate some disappointment. I am sure noble Lords will tell me whether I succeed.
We need to tackle the root causes of obesity. My noble friend Lady Brown was absolutely right to highlight the impact of poverty and homelessness, and all that those mean. We have to address, as we have heard today, the increasingly unhealthy changes in our food environment and make healthier choices cheaper, more attractive and more available in order that the healthy choice is not just the easy but the smart choice. As the noble Baronesses, Lady Freeman and Lady Browning, said, it is about equipping people—I bow to the experience and cookery skills of the noble Baroness, Lady Browning, in this regard—with skills because unless they are equipped, it is just not going to happen.
Looking at what action has been taken so far, I do not pretend for a moment that this is a speedy or simple task. The committee expressed its concerns that the actions taken—at the time of the report, I might add—were not bold enough, nor was the Government’s response, and nor was it moving fast enough, as the noble Baroness, Lady Jenkin, particularly said, in its urgency.
A number of noble Lords have been good enough to refer to the actions that have already been taken. Since coming into government in July, we have indeed laid secondary legislation to restrict advertisements of less healthy food and drink to children on TV and online from 1 October this year. My noble friend Lady Goudie recalled that that had not happened previous to this Government and referred to the strong voice of industry against this measure. I certainly remember, when in opposition and standing at the Dispatch Box opposite, urging action. I am glad that we have done this.
A number of noble Lords spoke about the influence of industry. I will come back to this later, but it is not my experience, either as a Minister in this Government or the previous Labour Government, that because I spoke with industry or any other stakeholders, I necessarily agreed with or felt pressured by them. I heard the comparisons that the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, and the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, made with the tobacco industry. I can absolutely say, as a former Public Health Minister, it was not my experience that because they were spoken to by those with a different view, our previous Labour Government—or indeed this one—went along with that.
What I do believe in is transparency. The noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, referred to figures under the previous Government of the numbers of meetings. The noble Baroness and all noble Lords will know that it is required—and absolutely right—that Ministers and others declare their interests and, more than that, the meetings we have. That is absolutely crucial and I am completely on board with doing that.
Another area in which we have taken action has also been referred to. I am glad the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, was good enough to support this. We have given local authorities stronger and clearer powers to block new fast-food outlets near schools and where young people congregate.
We have gone further than our manifesto commitments. The October Budget uprated the soft drinks industry levy and I thank my noble friend Lord Brooke for continuing to highlight this. That action, as we know, has taken thousands of tonnes of sugar out of the drinks that are consumed every day. I believe, and it is evidenced, that this uprating will keep this action effective and continue to drive reformulation by industry towards healthier products.
We know that we need to go further. The noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, reminded us of the challenge for individuals, not just the system. I appreciate how personally she told us of those challenges. It is not just the complexity of the landscape, as noble Lords have said and I agree, but the complexity of the challenge for individuals, referred to very personally by the noble Lord, Lord Rennard. It is right that we support, guide, educate and make it possible for individuals to be part of the solution. We will need new measures to further improve the food environment, more measures to trigger the reformulation of less healthy products and more support for people to make healthier choices.
I have heard the committee’s concern that it takes too long to make new policy commitments. I was reflecting on this when preparing for this debate and I take that point. The Government’s response, which was made not many months after coming into government, was made in January this year but it was started as soon as we received the committee’s very welcome report. Being realistic, the Government were not ready to make firm positions on introducing, or indeed rejecting, many of the committee’s more specific recommendations. For me, that perhaps explains or illustrates some of the reasons behind the Government’s response.
Of course, policies will be informed by strategy. I am going to use the word “complex” again, but the food system—noble Lords have illustrated this today, as they have done on many occasions—is very complex. There is a need to engage and consult with a wide range of stakeholders in government, in industry and in the health and academic sector to make sure that policies will be effective and proportionate. To take the necessary steps, we need to have the machinery in place to drive progress, bringing together many government departments including the Department for Education—I refer the noble Baroness, Lady Batters, to this point—as well as non-government stakeholders. We also need to develop and drive forward an agenda for change.
That is why, in addition to the work under way within the health mission—a new approach to government and very much a core approach—we are developing a new cross-government food strategy, as has been spoken about a lot today and as recommended by the committee’s report. The noble Baroness, Lady Batters, urged a joined-up approach across government, including the role of the Department for Education. Indeed, that department is very much part of that, as are other government departments. The food strategy will promote more easily accessible and healthy food to tackle obesity and diet-related ill-health and will help children to get the best start in life.
There has been a lot of discussion about the advisory board to the strategy. I will make a couple of additional points, alongside those that have already been highlighted. The strategy was announced on 21 March. The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs, Daniel Zeichner MP, is the chair, and it held its first meeting on Wednesday 26 March. The board will initially meet monthly. On the points about the composition of what is, as I have emphasised, an advisory board, Defra worked closely, and continues to, with the Institute of Grocery Distribution to establish the board, and the IGD will act as co-secretariat for the meetings.
The food strategy and the health mission are both about delivering change—the very premise on which this Government were elected. I can give the assurance that all policy options are being fully considered, recognising the need to engage with a wide range of government and non-government stakeholders. This includes engaging with the food industry, as my noble friend Lord Brooke acknowledged.
Our food environment, as noble Lords have rightly said, needs to improve. The food industry shapes our food environment, and it needs to be part of the solution. That is a point to which the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, brought her experience in three very relevant departments to bear in this debate. Engaging in this way is vital to allow us to understand how changes may impact the food supply chain and how to deal with possible risks.
Noble Lords are eager to see progress, and so am I. I am conscious that we are not dealing with a new or unexpected problem, but one that has been allowed to develop over many years. Our reaction to that, in the form of our action plan, must include properly designed policies that have been consulted on. We need to remove barriers to implementation and set out a clear path and a timeline for delivery to avoid delay and uncertainty.
On the points about mandatory regulation, our action will not stop with the actions we have already taken. I have heard the concerns and the urgings to be bold. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was quoted. I remember him saying:
“We’re at our best when at our boldest”.
Mandatory regulation can drive change and establish a level playing field between companies which have already taken voluntary action and those which have yet to do so.
The noble Lord, Lord Krebs, mentioned a Cambridge report which said that hundreds of policies have been failing because of a voluntary approach. The reference to the balance of voluntary and mandatory measures in the Government’s response to the committee’s report did not mean a reliance on wholly voluntary measures, nor was it “giving in”—to quote the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley—to industry lobbying. I have already outlined the steps that we have taken, and we will fulfil our commitment to banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s. We will not shy away from taking necessary mandatory action. I believe we have already shown ourselves to be going in that direction where it is needed and where it will produce the best result.
On the important matter of supporting children, I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Meyer, that taking a life course approach is key to our commitment to give every child the best start in life. Again, I reassure noble Lords that the Department for Education has an important role in achieving that. All of this starts with helping families to access support for feeding their baby. For those who use infant formula, it is vital that they can access affordable and high-quality products—something that I know is of interest to the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie. We therefore welcome the Competition and Markets Authority’s formula report. We will consider carefully the recommendations and will respond to it. The affordability and availability of healthy food is key for those trying to feed their family. We are committed to providing a healthy diet for young people and providing support to families who need it most through our Healthy Start scheme.
The issue of mandatory school food standards was raised by my noble friend Lady Brown and the noble Baronesses, Lady Goudie and Lady Freeman, among others. These standards are in place throughout the school day. I assure the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, that they apply to the new school breakfast clubs. I have heard the concerns of noble Lords. The DfE keeps the approach to school food and ensuring compliance under review. Our two departments will continue to work together.
I turn quickly to ultra-processed foods. I agree that further research is needed to establish why and whether these foods are unhealthy: is it the processing or the nutritional content? As we have heard in the debate from the noble Lords, Lord Krebs and Lord McColl, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Boycott and Lady Suttie, there is a difference of opinion about this. That is why the SACN regularly reviews new and emerging evidence and will publish statements on UPFs and non-sugar sweeteners. We are also commissioning new research.
Once again, I thank the committee for its report. It articulated the seriousness of the challenge. I hope that, today, I have described some of the mechanisms through which we will work to drive change. We know we have to go further, where previous Governments have not done so. I look forward to being able to set out further actions that we will take in due course.