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 benefits of introducing portion control to support Public Health England’s reduction and reformulation programmes in relation to (a) sugar, (b) salt and (c) calories.

Reducing portion size is one mechanism for industry action that can be employed in reformulation programmes.

Calorie-based portion size guidelines covering food and drink consumed in and out of the home have been included in the sugar and calorie reduction programmes Public Health England oversees for the Government. The salt reduction programme includes maximum salt targets for portions of food served out of the home.

Reductions in portion size should reduce the number of calories, and amount of salt and sugar, consumed. An impact assessment, published in September 2020, showed that if the ambitions of the calorie reduction programme were achieved in full by in home retailers and manufacturers, it would result in a 6.8% reduction in calories sold per portion.