Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the oral contribution by the former Under-Secretary of State for Health on 21 March 2017, Official Report, Column 775, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Food and Drink Federation's decision not to introduce the Government's 20 per cent optional reduction in sugar content in its members' products by 2020 on his Department's policies to tackle (a) childhood obesity and (b) childhood tooth decay.

There has been no assessment made of the effect of Food and Drink Federation members’ compliance or non-compliance in achieving the 20% reduction in sugar content of key products contributing to children’s intakes by 2020 on childhood obesity or childhood tooth decay.

In ‘Sugar reduction: The evidence for action’, published in October 2015, Public Health England (PHE) undertook modelling work to estimate the potential health impact and wider economic benefits of achieving the average population intake recommendation for sugar. This modelling found that achieving this over a 10-year period would result in 4,100 premature deaths and 204,000 cases of dental caries being averted, resulting in a total cost saving to the National Health Service of £484 million.

PHE encourages all businesses to achieve the reductions in sugar as set out in ‘Childhood obesity: a plan for action’. A detailed assessment of industry’s progress will be published in March 2018.