Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ensure health intervention programmes have a focus on reducing adult obesity.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are delivering an ambitious programme of work to create a healthier environment, to help people achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Regulations on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes, and takeaways, came into force in April 2022. Restrictions on the placement of products high in fat, sugar, or salt in key selling locations came into force on 1 October 2022. We will be implementing restrictions on the sale of less healthy products by volume price, for instance three for two offers, and will introduce restrictions on the advertising of less healthy products before 9:00pm on television. We will also be implementing restrictions on paid for online advertising for less healthy products, from 1 October 2025.
We are working with the food industry to ensure it is easier for the public to make healthier choices, and make further progress on reformulation. In addition, the Food Data Transparency Partnership will help enable and encourage food companies to voluntarily demonstrate progress on the healthiness of their sales.
We are also supporting more than three million children through the Healthy Foods Schemes, and helping schools boost physical activity to help children maintain a healthy weight and good overall health through the Primary School PE and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser Network. In addition, local authorities and the National Health Service provide weight management services and the NHS Health Check Programme, to support their communities in achieving and maintaining a healthier weight.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help tackle childhood obesity.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are delivering an ambitious programme of work to create a healthier environment, to help people achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Regulations on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes, and takeaways, came into force in April 2022. Restrictions on the placement of products high in fat, sugar, or salt in key selling locations came into force on 1 October 2022. We will be implementing restrictions on the sale of less healthy products by volume price, for instance three for two offers, and will introduce restrictions on the advertising of less healthy products before 9:00pm on television. We will also be implementing restrictions on paid for online advertising for less healthy products, from 1 October 2025.
We are working with the food industry to ensure it is easier for the public to make healthier choices, and make further progress on reformulation. In addition, the Food Data Transparency Partnership will help enable and encourage food companies to voluntarily demonstrate progress on the healthiness of their sales.
We are also supporting more than three million children through the Healthy Foods Schemes, and helping schools boost physical activity to help children maintain a healthy weight and good overall health through the Primary School PE and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser Network. In addition, local authorities and the National Health Service provide weight management services and the NHS Health Check Programme, to support their communities in achieving and maintaining a healthier weight.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress she has made on delivering the UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
A cross-Government, United Kingdom-wide delivery board monitors and oversees progress in delivering the National Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance (NAP AMR) for 2019 to 2024. The majority of the commitments in the NAP AMR have been assessed as either completed, or as on track for delivery.
Progress against the measurable ambitions in the NAP AMR is collated by the UK Health Security Agency, and reported to the delivery board. Significant progress has been made in further reducing antibiotic use in food producing animals, by 59% since 2014, and in humans, with an 8.8% reduction in overall antibiotic usage from 2014 to 2022. Progress has been slower in other areas, such as reducing the incidence of specific drug-resistant infections, due to the diverse nature of the underlying causes of these infections. Other key achievements from the NAP AMR programme over the past five years include:
- Piloting innovative ways of evaluating and paying for antibiotics on the National Health Service;
- Securing antimicrobial resistance commitments on several ministerial tracks during the UK G7 presidency in 2021; and
- £19.2 million investment into One Health Surveillance through the Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and Environment Programme.
The Department has commissioned the Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit (PIRU) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to conduct an evaluation of the 2019 to 2024 NAP AMR, to inform future policy development and implementation. Findings from the PIRU evaluation will be published following the peer-review process.
The forthcoming NAP AMR for 2024 to 2029 is under development, in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders across different sectors, and informed by the findings from the antimicrobial resistance Call for Evidence. This will set us on course for achieving our long-term ambitions, set out in the Government’s 20-year vision to contain, control, and mitigate antimicrobial resistance by 2040.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding was provided through the holiday activities and food programme to projects in Darlington in each year since it was introduced.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has invested more than £200 million a year in our holiday, activities and food (HAF) programme since 2021. Since 2022, the HAF programme has provided 10.7 million HAF days to children and young people in this country. The expansion of the programme year-on-year has meant a total of 5.4 million HAF days provided between Christmas 2022, Easter and summer 2023.
For the 2021 programme, Darlington were allocated £519,040 in total, which included £49,090 paid to them in the 2020/21 financial year to help with start-up costs, and a further £469,050 was allocated to them during the 2021/22 financial year.
For the 2022 programme, the department allocated £466,240, for 2023 the department allocated £468,150 and this year, the department has allocated a further £469,170, bringing the total to more than £1.9 million in Darlington since the programme began, ensuring thousands of children across Darlington local authority have benefitted from healthy meals and taking part in a range of enriching activities during the longer school holidays.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 206 of the policy paper entitled National food strategy for England, updated in July 2021, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the implications for its policies of the recommendation to remove the requirement for schools to serve meat three times a week from the School Food Standards.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The government’s school food standards regulates the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day. Beyond this, the department believes that headteachers, school governors and caterers are best placed to make decisions about their school food policies, taking into account local circumstances and the needs of their pupils. The school food standards guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools.
The government recognises the importance of plant-based foods from a cultural and environmental point of view. The standards for school food allow schools the freedom to provide plant-based meals as needed. Meat must be served on three or more days each week and, beyond this, schools may provide a meal with a vegan source of protein every day if they choose to.
The department believes that the current standards provide a robust yet flexible framework to ensure that pupils in England continue to receive high-quality and nutritious food that encourages healthy eating habits for life. The department is keeping the standards under review.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University entitled Crisis in Gaza: Scenario-Based Health Impact Projections, published on 19 February 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We are aware of this report.
As the Foreign Secretary has said, Palestinians civilians are facing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Too many civilians have been killed and we want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes.
The immediate priority must be a humanitarian pause in the fighting, which is the best route to get aid in and hostages out. We want that pause to lead to a sustainable ceasefire without a return to destruction, fighting and further loss of life. That remains the focus of all our diplomatic effort.
There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza and our focus must be on practical solutions that save lives. We trebled our aid commitment this financial year and we are doing everything we can to get more aid in and open more crossings. On 21 February, the UK and Jordan air-dropped life-saving aid to the Tal Al-Hawa hospital in northern Gaza. Four tonnes of vital supplies were provided, including medicines, fuel and food for hospital patients and staff.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote the benefits of drinking milk to children and young people.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Milk and dairy products make a valuable contribution to the nutrient content of the diet, providing protein and B vitamins for example. They are also an important source of calcium, which is especially important for children to help build healthy bones and teeth. In the United Kingdom, exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for around the first six months of a baby’s life with continued breastfeeding throughout the first year. Following this, the Government encourages the population to consume some lower fat milk and dairy products as part of a healthy, balanced diet. This is reflected in the UK’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide, a copy of which is attached.
The Healthier Families and Start4Life websites both include information in an online-only format to parents of young and primary school aged children on the consumption of lower fat, unsweetened milk as part of a healthy balanced diet.
The Eatwell Guide principles, including consumption of milk and dairy products, underpin the School Food Standards and Public Health England’s example menus and guidance for early years settings, available on GOV.UK in an online-only format.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of changing the provision of the Nursery Milk Scheme to finish at the end of the reception academic year rather than when individual children reach the age of five.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Nursery Milk Scheme allows early years childcare settings, such as childminders and nurseries, to reclaim the cost of providing one-third of a pint of milk to children under five years old, who attend their childcare setting for at least two hours per day. Schools are also allowed to claim under this scheme, in respect of pupils under the age of five years old. There are no current plans to extend the scheme to cover other school pupils.
The School Food Standards require lower-fat or lactose free milk to be available in all schools. From the age of five years old onwards, pupils eligible for benefits-based free school meals are also eligible for free school milk. In addition, the school milk subsidy scheme subsidises the cost of milk and certain milk products for children in primary and secondary schools, including over five-year-olds. This means that participating schools can sell the products in schools at a lower price. More information on this scheme is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-milk-subsidy-scheme
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent guidance her Department has provided to (a) schools and (b) other educational institutions on food (i) labelling and (ii) allergens.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department provides statutory guidance for schools, ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions’, which makes clear that schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with allergies and have processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/allergy-guidance-for-schools.
In early years settings, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework sets the standards that all registered early years providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to age five. The framework is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.
The EYFS states that before a child is admitted to the setting the provider must also obtain information about any special dietary requirements, preferences and food allergies that the child has, and any special health requirements.
The EYFS signposts to the Department of Health and Social Care document ‘Example menus for early years settings in England’ which includes guidance on menu planning, food safety, managing food allergies and reading food labels, which staff preparing food will find helpful in ensuring that children are kept safe. The guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/658870/Early_years_menus_part_1_guidance.pdf.
The ‘Help for early years providers’ online platform, owned by the department, has a food safety page which also signposts to resources on allergies. This page is available at: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/safeguarding-and-welfare/food-safety#allergies. The department is also developing nutrition content for the platform which will have a section on allergies and resources such as a common allergies table.
Higher education (HE) institutions and further education institutions are autonomous and it is the responsibility of individual HE institutions to implement and adhere to relevant guidelines with regards to labelling and allergens.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) promotes its resources including information on allergen labelling and management to all food business operators including schools, nurseries, colleges, and other institutional caterers.
The FSA has published guidance relevant to schools and other educational institutions including sector specific guidance in July 2021 for new allergen labelling legislation which came into force in October 2021. Guidance for institutional caterers (including schools) has been on the FSA website since at least 2017. This has links to training courses offered by allergy charities. In September 2020, the FSA also launched free allergen training which has had over 530,000 users to date, with nearly 75,000 of these being from the education sector.
Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has taken steps to implement recommendation 27 on page 260 of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report entitled Equality and Human Rights Monitor, published in November 2023, on the under-performance of boys relative to girls in primary and secondary education.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Raising attainment for all pupils, no matter their gender or background is at the heart of this government’s agenda and the government is committed to providing a world-class education system for all.
The latest data shows that, while girls continue to outperform boys across most headline measures, the gender gap between boys and girls is narrowing.
At key stage 2 in 2022/23, the gender gap between boys and girls at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics has decreased since 2022 and is the lowest it has been since 2016. Key stage 4 results show the gender gap has narrowed across all headline measures when comparing 2022/23 with both 2018/19 and 2021/22.
The Schools White Paper, published in March 2022, was clear about the direction of travel needed to improve attainment. It set out the department’s long-term vision for a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time – founded on achieving world-class literacy and numeracy.
This is supported by significant investment in education with the overall core school budget totalling over £59.6 billion in 2024/25 which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. This will help schools in their vital work to close attainment gaps, and level up educational opportunities.
Alongside this, the department takes a range of steps to improve attainment and outcomes for all pupils, including improving the quality of teaching and curriculum resources, strengthening the school system, increasing attendance, and providing targeted support where needed.
The department is aware that disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs are more likely to fall behind and need extra support to reach their full potential. This is why the department has provided additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium, which will rise to over £2.9 billion in 2024/25, an increase of £80 million from 2023/24.
Programmes such as free school meals that support 2 million children, the Holiday Activities and Food programme, and support for up to 2,700 breakfast clubs also support disadvantaged pupils.
The department continues to collaborate with other government departments to address out-of-school factors that we know have a significant impact on attainment outcomes.