Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the inclusion of fruit and nut bars in the location restrictions for high fat, sugar and salt products since October 2022 on businesses; and what steps he is taking to support investment by affected manufacturers of fruit and nut bars.

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 that are high in saturated fat, salt, or sugar are in scope of the restrictions. 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 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.