Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of location restrictions for high fat, sugar and salt products on fruit and nut (a) bars and (b) bags; and what steps he is taking to ensure that regulation does not have unintended consequences for competition.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis to ease the strain on our National Health Service and create the healthiest generation of children ever.

Restrictions on the promotion by location of ‘less healthy’ food and drink products in stores and their equivalent places online have been in place since 2022. These restrictions apply to categories of products that impact most on childhood obesity, which were chosen following public consultation. Only fruit and nut bars and bags that are high in saturated fat, salt, or sugar are in scope of the restrictions. There are exceptions for certain coated nuts products. The products that are in and out of scope of the restrictions are set out in the Schedule to the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 regulations and we have published guidance to support industry on complying with the restrictions.

We published a detailed impact assessment on the costs to industry and the benefits of this policy on the GOV.UK website. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the restrictions and will publish a Post Implementation Review within five years of the restrictions taking legal effect which would consider any unintended consequences of the policy.