Health and Care Bill

Debate between John Stevenson and Edward Argar

Report stage
Monday 22nd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[John Stevenson (Carlisle) (Con)]

I rise to support the amendments in my name: 110, 111, 112 and 113. I draw the attention of the House to the fact that I have a significant number of food and drink manufacturers in my constituency, and that I chair the all-party parliamentary group for food and drink manufacturing. I also support the amendments tabled by my hon. Friends the Members for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller) and for Buckingham (Greg Smith), and fully support and endorse their comments.

In reality, I and many others would have preferred clause 125 and the whole of schedule 16 to have been removed from the Bill. I and I think many others are not convinced that that is really the way forward or that it will achieve very much. That view is shared by many of my colleagues, but also by many in the advertising industry and the food and drink sector. That is not because they are against the Government’s attempts to respond to the challenge of obesity, which is and should be a concern for all of us, but because their impact is likely to be so insignificant that it is disproportionate to what is proposed. We should also remember that the industry has already done a huge amount. It is incredibly innovative—reformulation, reductions in salt and sugar—and the reductions we have already seen are very significant. The industry continues to make changes and I believe it will continue to do so in the future. We should also remember that there is something called personal responsibility.

There is an opportunity, however, for compromise and improvements to schedule 16—hence the various amendments that have been tabled. I very much hope that the Government will be willing to compromise in their approach and see the benefits of the amendments that stand in my hon. Friends’ names and mine. I do not intend to detain the House for long, because my amendments are primarily technical rather than anything greater.

I tabled amendments 111, 112 and 113 because I believe that we want a food and drink manufacturing sector that is competitive and is based in the UK as much as possible. As presently drafted, the Bill exempts certain businesses, but the criteria are based on UK employee numbers. Large multinational companies could therefore be exempt if the UK element of their business has under 250 employees; conversely, a UK business with 250-plus employees would not be exempt. That has the potential to be unfair in many respects to UK businesses from a competition perspective, and could lead them to divert manufacturing abroad. A simple solution would be to take account of turnover as well as staff numbers. I have suggested using the definition in section 465 of the Companies Act 2006, which I believe would deal with the situation.

Under the Bill, paid-for branded adverts for products that are high in fat, salt or sugar would be prevented on retailer-owned spaces, but retailers would still be able to advertise equivalent HFSS own-brand products. That could distort competition directly between retailers’ and manufacturers’ products. Amendment 110 would ensure a level playing field, which in my view would be much fairer.

I hope that the Government will be receptive to my amendments—if not now, via changes introduced in the other place. In anticipation of such a compromise, I do not intend to put them to the vote.

[The Minister for Health (Edward Argar)]

I am grateful for this evening’s debate. More than once during the passage of the Bill, I have put on the record the Government’s commitment to improving and protecting the public’s health and have paid tribute to the hard work and dedication of our NHS and public health professionals in rising to the greatest infectious disease challenge of modern times. I would again like to put on the record those important points, with which I know Opposition Front Benchers agree.

Our commitment to public health is clear in the Bill, in the proposals set out in the Government’s recently published plan for health and care, “Build Back Better”, and in our wider programme of public health reform. A focus on the prevention of avoidable diseases is a central principle in delivering a sustainable NHS and in levelling up health outcomes across the country.

Childhood obesity is one of the biggest health challenges that this nation faces. The latest data from the national childhood measurement programme revealed that approximately 40% of children leaving primary school in England were overweight or living with obesity.

--- Later in debate ---

[Edward Argar]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady, with whom I worked in London local government many moons ago on issues not dissimilar to those that we are debating. The Bill focuses on diet and the obesity that it causes, but she is right to highlight that exercise and a healthy lifestyle also play a key role in tackling obesity. We do not believe that the Bill is the right place to put that role into legislation, but I join in the sentiment underpinning what the hon. Lady says. Schools, local authorities and health bodies need to consider the issue in the round.

Nearly two thirds of adults—64%—are also overweight or living with obesity. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller) for gently tempting me to respond to his points about the nanny state, but I would argue that it is not being a nanny state to look out for the health of our citizens. Yes, it is about giving advice and giving people the information to make informed judgments, but it is also about putting in place a proportionate framework in legislation.

As with the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), I did not agree with everything that the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Dr Whitford) said, particularly her concluding comments, but I listened carefully to her comments about seatbelts. She said that she, as a clinician, saw the impact that legislation on that public health and public safety measure had on reducing injuries.

[John Stevenson]

Does the Minister agree that the industry itself is doing an awful lot now to support the Government’s agenda? Does he also acknowledge that personal responsibility is very important?

[Edward Argar]

I wondered what I was about to have bowled at me there, but my hon. Friend is absolutely right. I entirely agree that a huge amount of progress has been made; we believe that we need to go further with our proposals, but he is right to highlight that progress. He is also right to highlight the relevance of the central role of personal responsibility and the decisions that we and our families all take.

To meet the ambition of halving childhood obesity by 2030, it is imperative that we reduce children’s exposure to less healthy food and drink product advertising on TV and online. We want to ensure that the media our children engage with the most promote a healthy diet. The Bill therefore contains provisions to restrict the advertising of less healthy food and drink products on TV, in on-demand programme services and online.