Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken steps to protect (a) businesses and (b) jobs in the food and drink manufacturing industry from the potential effect of restrictions on the advertising, promotion and placement of products that are high in fat, salt and sugar.

We carefully consider all views and potential impacts of our measures to reduce obesity. This includes ongoing engagement and feedback from a wide range of experts and stakeholders, including those from the food and drink manufacturing sector on specific policy proposals and in response to our public consultations. Introducing legislation across the market will ensure that a level playing field is created within the retail sector as well as across the wider food industry.

We have conducted two consultations on introducing further advertising restrictions for products that are high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS). We have considered the impact any restrictions will have on industry in terms of lost revenue and any business sectors that will see greater impacts. This has been balanced against the impact advertising of HFSS food and drink has on children’s consumption, preferences and ultimately their weight. We have kept these, along with other factors, in mind whist we develop our final policy position. More detail on any steps taken to protect industry will be outlined in our consultation response, due to be published later this year.