Support for Infants and Parents etc (Information) Bill [HL]

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 6th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer (LD)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, and his very positive comments. Indeed, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, on using his high position in the ballot to continue his long-term campaign to secure a firm foundation for young families.

The Bill’s intention is excellent; my concern is that, given the extreme financial constraints on local authorities at the moment, loading them with extra duties may not be very easy or realistic. However, I hope that this Bill progresses and that I will have the opportunity to propose some constructive amendments to progress an absolutely foundational area for babies that impacts on their health for their entire life. The noble Lord, Lord Farmer, mentioned this, and it is, of course, feeding.

How babies are fed in the first months of their life is absolutely crucial. I am sure that noble Lords here do not me to spell out the advantages of breastfeeding in terms of health. But the shocking statistic for this country is that 81% of mothers start breastfeeding but by six months—and the World Health Organization and all the health organisations suggest that it should go on for six months—only 1% are still breastfeeding.

There was an infant feeding survey, which was discontinued in 2012 but then restarted in 2023, which is positive. Can the Minister tell me whether the results of that survey are expected shortly and whether the Government intend to continue this survey from now on? We need to do all we can to help those who breastfeed, at least for those first six months.

At the moment, however, the push all comes from the other direction, and has for 40-odd years—well, more. That was why the World Health Organization brought in the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes, because the heavy way that the substitutes are marketed means that the incentive to breastfeed, the image of breastfeeding and the positive aspects of it are really undermined. In 2007, the previous Labour Government recognised how important this was and brought in the Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (England) Regulations, which attempted to put the code on the books in the UK. The UK legislation on infant formula incorporates some but not all of the code into law. Would the Minister consider incorporating more of it into law?

UNICEF has some really helpful ideas specifically for the UK, including:

“Develop a National Infant Feeding Strategy Board … promote, protect and support breastfeeding in all policy areas”—


as the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, mentioned—and:

“Implement evidence-based initiatives that support breastfeeding”.


In 2023, the Lancet ran a very interesting three-paper series about the impact of the amount of advertising from the commercial formula manufacturers, which is used to target parents, healthcare professionals and policymakers. There are marketing practices which, on the face of it, comply with the law but actually undermine breastfeeding—that is the fact. The Lancet found that the monitoring and enforcement of UK legislation is very weak, which means that companies are rarely prosecuted for breaking the law. I cannot remember a case and I have been following this since about 1980.

That is an area where I would like us to be able to table some amendments to this very constructive Bill and make sure that the work of the WHO, the Lancet and UNICEF is underscored by our legislation.