Drinks: Sugar
(asked on 13th December 2016) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of recent trends in consumption of sugary drinks by children; and if he will make a statement.
Public Health England (PHE) monitors the purchase and consumption of sugary drinks by children on an ongoing basis through the National Diet and Nutrition Survey and other data sources.
PHE’s evidence on reducing sugar consumption, published in October 20151, identified a number of measures that could be implemented to reduce the amount of sugar in the diet, including the contribution that soft drinks make to children’s intakes. A number of these are already in progress such as the soft drinks industry levy (which is the responsibility of HM Treasury), PHE’s sugar reduction programme, public awareness raising through PHE’s Change4Life campaign and the significant programme of actions in the Childhood Obesity Plan.
It is unlikely that a single action alone would be effective but a combination of these and other factors are likely to improve diet and reduce sugar consumption.
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