Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the devolved administrations regarding the proposed reduction of (1) salt, and (2) sugar, in food in England.

The voluntary reduction and reformulation programmes challenge all sectors of the food and drinks industry, including retailers, manufacturers and eating out of home sector such as cafes, takeaways and delivery firms, to reduce the amount of sugar and salt in foods and drinks.

The sugar reduction programme aimed to reduce the amount of sugar in foods which contribute the most to children’s  intake by 20% by 2020. While there has been mixed progress in decreasing the sugar content of foods, retailers and manufacturers demonstrated greater achievements in sugar reduction in unsweetened juice and sweetened milk based drinks. Monitoring the sugar content of drinks in scope of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy shown that substantial reductions have been achieved. The fourth progress report on sugar reduction is expected in 2022. An assessment of salt reduction targets to be achieved by 2024 is expected in 2022. Officials maintain regular contact with the devolved administrations on the salt and sugar reduction programmes.