Beccy Cooper

This Government’s position is that conversion practices are abuse - such practices have no place in society and must be stopped. We are committed to delivering on our manifesto commitment to bring forward a full, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices.

We are clear that any ban must not cover legitimate psychological support, treatment, or non-directive counselling. It must also respect the important role that teachers, religious leaders, parents and carers can have in supporting those exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity.

We will set out our next steps on this work in due course.

Ministers and officials from Defra and the Department of Health and Social Care have regular discussions on a range of issues.

The Government is committed to meeting legal targets for air quality, including the targets recently set under the Environment Act 2021. Defra will be working closely with our colleagues across government, including at the Department for Health and Social Care, as we deliver a comprehensive and ambitious Clean Air Strategy including a series of interventions to reduce everyone’s exposure to air pollution and improve public health.

One of the Government’s five missions is to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future. The Health Mission has an overall objective to reduce the amount of time spent in ill-health, tackle health inequalities, and drive economic growth.

As part of this, we’ll be taking ambitious steps to improve the nation’s health, so that we see improvement across a range of public health indicators, including obesity. Further details will be set out in due course.

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) collects data on children aged four to five years old, who would be in reception, and 10 to 11 years old, who would be in year 6. It provides detailed data on childhood obesity by age, sex, deprivation, and ethnicity, as well as geographic analyses.

NCMP data for 2022/23 shows that, for children living in the most deprived areas, obesity prevalence was twice as high compared with those living in the least deprived areas in both reception and year 6.

For children in reception, the data for 2022/23 shows a gap of 6.6% for obesity prevalence between the most and least deprived areas. This is the smallest disparity gap seen since 2014/15, and has been driven by a greater drop in obesity prevalence in the most deprived areas, which is at its lowest level since 2015/16. For children in year 6, the gap in obesity prevalence between the most and least deprived areas in 2022/23 has reduced to 17.1%, but is still much larger than that seen in pre-pandemic years.

A growing number of children living with obesity are developing health conditions, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, bone and joint problems, tooth decay, and type 2 diabetes.

Further health outcomes associated with obesity occur in adulthood. Approximately 80% of adolescents living with obesity will continue to live with excess weight as adults, so it is important to create an environment which helps children maintain a healthy weight.

Where a child lives therefore influences their weight status and health outcomes. There are large and persistent disparities between the most and least deprived communities of England.

As set out in the King's Speech, the Government will bring forward the necessary secondary legislation to ban junk food advertising to children and to stop the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under 16-year-olds. We face an obesity crisis, and we will take action to tackle it head on, easing the strain on our National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever.

There is no universally agreed definition of ultra-processed foods (UPF), although NOVA is the most widely used classification system. NOVA categorises foods by how processed they are, rather than their nutritional composition.

In July 2023, the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) published a position statement on processed foods and health, and concluded that observed associations between UPF and health are concerning, but it is unclear whether these foods are inherently unhealthy due to processing or due to their nutritional content. Given the SACN’s concerns, they added the topic of processed foods and health to their watching brief and will consider it at their next horizon scan meeting in October 2024.

Government dietary advice, based on recommendations from the SACN, and as depicted within the Eatwell Guide, already shows that many foods that would be classified as ultra-processed are not part of a healthy, balanced diet as they are high in calories, saturated fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS). The Government’s advice on healthy eating, including the Eatwell Guide’s principles, are communicated through the NHS.UK website and the Government’s social marketing campaigns such as Better Health, Healthier Families, and Start for Life.

As UPFs tend to be HFSS, they are also likely to be the focus of policies to reduce consumption of HFSS foods, including the regulations being brought forward to ban junk food advertising to children and stopping the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to 16-year-olds.

Supporting people to stay healthier for longer is at the heart of this government’s Health Mission. We face a childhood obesity crisis and this government will take action to tackle it head on, easing the strain on the National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever.

The Health Mission has an overall objective to reduce the amount of time spent in ill-health, tackle health inequalities and drive economic growth. This brings together all government departments with an influence over the social determinants of health, to drive forward action in these areas.

We are committed to implementing the Advertising Regulations of less healthy food to children, empowering councils to block the development of new fast-food shops outside schools and banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old.

Further action on obesity under the Government’s Health Mission will be set out in due course.

We know that the National Health Service has been facing chronic workforce shortages for a number of years and, while there has been growth in the mental health workforce over recent years, more is needed.

That is why, as part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future and is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce waiting times and provide faster treatment. We recognise that bringing in the staff needed will take time. We are working to develop a plan to deliver this expansion of the mental health workforce, including where they should be deployed to achieve maximum effect.

The UK Government is the second largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance - committing £1.65 billion from 2021-2025. Gavi's COVID programme is meeting all the demand for COVID vaccines in lower income countries. Gavi also provides delivery support to ensure the vaccines get to the people that need them. This programme will run until the end of 2025. Since the onset of the pandemic Gavi has delivered over 2 billion doses of COVID vaccines.

The UK has repeatedly condemned the Myanmar military's attacks against health workers and health facilities in public statements and at multilateral fora, including the UN Security Council. We are promoting accountability by providing funding to the UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and to the Myanmar Witness project, which documents human rights abuses, including attacks on health workers and facilities, for use in future prosecution. We have also integrated digital approaches into our healthcare programming, such as providing over 70,000 tele-medicine consultations, to enable conflict-affected communities access to qualified health workers.