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 effect on children's oral health of a ban on advertising high-sugar products on television before 9pm.

Improving the oral health of children is a priority for this Government. Key measures in our world-leading childhood obesity plan include the soft drinks industry levy and sugar reduction and wider reformulation programme which are reducing the amount of sugar children consume.

Current advertising restrictions in the United Kingdom on high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) products are among the toughest in the world. Strict new rules came into effect in July 2017 banning the advertising of HFSS food or drink products in children’s media. These restrictions apply across all non-broadcast media including in print, cinema, online and in social media.

In August 2017 we announced £5 million investment in a policy research unit on childhood obesity to provide a robust evidence, evaluation and research capability including looking at the impact of marketing (including advertising) on childhood obesity. We will use this, alongside other reports and data published on progress in delivering our plan, to determine whether sufficient progress has been made and whether alternative levers need to be considered.