Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 22 May 2025, HCWS652, whether programmatic advertisements served to UK residents on non-UK sites will be covered by the regulations.

The Government has committed to implementing advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on television and online as part of its ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever. These restrictions are expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from United Kingdom children’s diets per year and deliver £2 billion in health benefits.

As set out in the Communications Act 2003 (as amended by the Health and Care Act 2022), the online restrictions will apply to advertisements which are intended to be accessed principally by people in the United Kingdom. The Advertising Standards Authority, as the frontline regulator, will issue guidance to set out how this will be enforced. As also set out in legislation, video on demand (VOD) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services that are under the jurisdiction of the UK, and therefore regulated by Ofcom, will be subject to the 9:00pm television watershed. Whereas VOD and IPTV services not regulated by Ofcom, and therefore outside of UK jurisdiction, will be subject to the 24-hour online restrictions.