Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in light of the success of previous UK voluntary salt reduction programmes in reducing blood pressure and cardiovascular deaths, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reintroducing similar programmes in the near future.

Since the setting of the Public Health England voluntary salt reduction targets, regulations to limit the promotion and marketing of ‘less healthy’ or high salt, saturated fat, and salt (HFSS) food and drink products have been introduced.

This includes the location promotions restrictions which came into effect in October 2022, and which prohibit the placement of ‘less healthy’ food and drink products in key selling locations in supermarkets, for instance around checkouts. Emerging evidence suggests a positive reduction in HFSS purchasing from retail with two million fewer in-scope ‘less healthy’ products being sold each day.

Restrictions on the use by retailers of volume price promotions offers, for instance buy two for three, came into force on 1 October 2025. The restrictions aim to reduce the disproportionate promotion of ‘less healthy’ products to consumers which are widespread and effective at influencing food preferences and purchases, particularly for families.

Regulations to restrict the advertising of ‘less healthy” food and drink products targeted at children on television and online came into effect in January 2026, although many advertisers and broadcasters started to voluntarily comply with the restrictions from 1 October 2025. There has been a noticeable change in the type of adverts show on television and online since then.

The Healthier Food Targets and Reporting policy is intended to improve the healthiness of food sales. We will consult soon on the design of the measures, a key aspect of which is what metrics to use and what elements of food and drink those metrics should cover such as, but not limited to, levels of salt.

There are currently no United Kingdom taxes that cover the salt content of food and drink. The Government keeps all taxes under regular review. Decisions about the future development of taxes are made by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in line with the Government’s tax policy-making framework.

Monitoring of the overall purchasing of food and drink shows that in 2023, compared to 2022, purchases of salt increased by 1.4%. Further monitoring of purchasing, for 2024 and 2025, is currently underway and will be published later this year.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey will shortly begin fieldwork for a urinary sodium survey, providing objective, updated population salt intakes to inform future targeted policy action.

The Government has set an ambition to reduce premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by 25% in the next 10 years. To accelerate progress on this ambition and tackle unwarranted variation across the country, the Cardiovascular Modern Service Framework was published on 7 July 2026. A delivery plan will follow later in the year to support systems to implement the framework.