Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Merron on 22 May (HLWS662), what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the Advertising Standards Authority in its role as the frontline regulator of the measures in the Health and Care Act 2022 about the advertising of unhealthy food and drink on TV and online.

The Government has set a bold ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever, and will take action to address the childhood obesity crisis. As part of this, we are committed to implementing the advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on television and online.

The Government appointed Ofcom as the statutory regulator for the advertising restrictions and this was set out in primary legislation via the Health and Care Act 2022. Ofcom appointed the Advertising Standards Authority as the frontline regulator of the advertising restrictions, using powers in the Communications Act 2003. It consulted on this appointment and published the statement, Regulation of advertising for less healthy food and drink: Implementation of new statutory restrictions, following the consultation in July 2023.