Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help encourage people to have healthy diets.

Supporting people to stay healthier for longer is at the heart of this government’s Health Mission. Government advice on a healthy, balanced diet is encapsulated in the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The Eatwell Guide depicts a healthy, balanced diet that is based on fruit, vegetables and higher fibre starchy carbohydrates. The Eatwell Guide principles are promoted through the NHS.uk website and the Government’s social marketing campaign, Better Health, including Healthier Families and Start for Life. The guide is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-eatwell-guide

The Healthy Start scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four. In October 2024, Healthy Start supported over 353,000 beneficiaries; this figure is higher than the previous paper voucher scheme.

The School Fruit and Vegetable scheme provides children in Key Stage 1 at state-funded primary schools with a free portion of fruit or vegetable every school day, to help to encourage healthier eating.

The Government is also committed to implementing the advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on TV and online, bringing forward the necessary secondary legislation to deliver our commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old, and limiting school children’s access to fast food. Further action under the Government’s Health Mission will be set out in due course.