Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what they expect the timeline to be for bringing forward energy drinks age-of-sale legislation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is taking decisive action on obesity, easing the strain on our National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever.
As part of this, we will fulfil our commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children aged under 16 years old, introducing the ban within this Parliament.
We ran a 12-week consultation, which was open from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. The Department is currently reviewing all submissions to the consultation and will set out a formal consultation response, and further information on our timelines, in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what lessons they have learnt from the review and updating of previous age-restricted sales legislation; and how those lessons will inform the approach to keeping any future energy drinks age-of-sale legislation under review as new products enter the market and consumption patterns evolve.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to learn from the implementation of previous age-restricted sales legislation. We recognise the importance of clear guidance, proportionate enforcement arrangements, and ensuring legislation is responsive to evidence, development in products, sales channels, and consumer behaviour.
Any future age of sale measures for energy drinks will be designed with these considerations in mind. We are reviewing consultation responses and will set out next steps in due course. The consultation specifically asked for views on our proposals for how the age restrictions will be enforced and its impact on local government.
Decisions on resourcing and enforcement will be taken alongside wider policy design and parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what lessons they have learned from previous age-restricted sales legislation, to ensure local authorities are adequately resourced to support the monitoring and enforcement of any future energy drinks age-of-sale legislation.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to learn from the implementation of previous age-restricted sales legislation. We recognise the importance of clear guidance, proportionate enforcement arrangements, and ensuring legislation is responsive to evidence, development in products, sales channels, and consumer behaviour.
Any future age of sale measures for energy drinks will be designed with these considerations in mind. We are reviewing consultation responses and will set out next steps in due course. The consultation specifically asked for views on our proposals for how the age restrictions will be enforced and its impact on local government.
Decisions on resourcing and enforcement will be taken alongside wider policy design and parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish a draft updated school food standards for public consultation; and if so, on what date.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is revising the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
We want to gather a broad spectrum of perspectives and to achieve this, we intend to consult on these revisions. As we prepare to consult, we are continuing to gather insights from our wider engagement, including a pilot
Further details on timelines for the revisions and the consultation will be available in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that updated school food standards are implemented before the planned expansion of free breakfast clubs in April and free school meals in September.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is revising the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
We want to gather a broad spectrum of perspectives and to achieve this, we intend to consult on these revisions. As we prepare to consult, we are continuing to gather insights from our wider engagement, including a pilot
Further details on timelines for the revisions and the consultation will be available in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on updating school food standards; and when they expect the revised standards to be published.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department is revising the School Food Standards and is engaging with stakeholders to ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history.
We want to gather a broad spectrum of perspectives and to achieve this, we intend to consult on these revisions. As we prepare to consult, we are continuing to gather insights from our wider engagement, including a pilot
Further details on timelines for the revisions and the consultation will be available in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks of expanding free school meals in September before updated school food standards are implemented and enforced.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This means over half a million more disadvantaged children will be receiving the support they need in school to be healthy and get the most out of their education.
These meals must be compliant with the School Food Standards. To ensure they support our work to create the healthiest generation of children in history, we are revising the School Food Standards and are engaging with stakeholders.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether NHS England's forthcoming quality strategy will include a new model for financial incentives in the NHS, including specialised, secondary, primary and community care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new NHS Quality Strategy will build on the 10-Year Health Plan and Dr Penny Dash’s review of patient safety across the health and care landscape. The 10-Year Health Plan commits to using sharper financial incentives to deliver value and improve outcomes. We expect the NHS Quality Strategy will reference, alongside other interventions, how the Department and NHS England will develop these incentives to ensure they drive high quality care across the National Health Service.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase opportunities to diagnose chronic kidney disease early, particularly through increased urine albumin to creatinine ratio testing.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is delivering a comprehensive programme to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of people with kidney disease. In 2023, NHS England published a renal services transformation toolkit to support earlier identification of chronic kidney disease and more joined up services. These changes are intended to make it easier to deliver improvements along the whole patient pathway, including earlier diagnosis and treatment, that can potentially prevent or delay the need for dialysis and transplant further downstream in the pathway.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for providing clinical guidance and quality standards. NICE’s guidance on chronic kidney disease includes guidance on the use of annual urine albumin-creatine ratio tests as the preferred method to detect and monitor kidney disease. The guidance is available on the NICE website.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the uptake of guidelines-directed medical therapies in primary care for (1) cardiovascular disease, (2) diabetes, and (3) chronic kidney disease.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a strategy in March 2025 setting out a collective ambition for improving uptake and adoption of NICE guidance by the health and care system over the next three years. The strategy aims to improve the uptake and adoption of NICE guidance in priority areas which align with the National Health Service 10-Year Health Plan by 10% by March 2029. This includes guidance on cardiovascular disease and diabetes, further details on which can be found on the NICE website.
In 2023, NHS England published a renal services transformation toolkit to support earlier identification of chronic kidney disease and more joined up services. Eight commissioned regional renal clinical networks are implementing this toolkit, in collaboration with providers. The regional networks are designed to improve care for kidney patients by standardizing treatment, reducing health inequalities, and promoting best practices, including for medical therapy use, across hospitals, commissioners, and specialists.