Advertising Restrictions on Less Healthy Food

Question

15:07:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government how many advertisements for less healthy food will be shown on television as a result of their recent delay in implementing planned advertising restrictions; and whether they will publish an impact statement about the effect on children’s health of their plan to exempt brand advertising.

My Lords, on 22 May, the Government announced that we will bring in restrictions on junk food advertising in January 2026. We have secured a unique agreement from advertisers and broadcasters to comply voluntarily from 1 October 2025. A new impact assessment is not needed, as brand advertising was always exempted from the policy. We are committed to implementing the restrictions, which we expect to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from UK children’s diets per year.

I thank the Minister, but she clearly does not have the answer to my Question. Does she accept that voluntary measures have been shown not to work? What is more, they provide no evidence to inform future policy development, because they are not monitored. Can she reassure the House that the Government will support independent research into the effect of brand advertising for companies that make unhealthy food on children’s health and their consumption of unhealthy food, compared to the specific advertising of unhealthy products themselves?

First, I commend the work done by the noble Baroness, the committee and everyone in this House who is passionate about this agenda. We are not weakening our stance on this. It is absolutely imperative that everyone understands that we are determined to tackle this issue. We felt strongly that there was a need for legal clarity on the existing policy, so that we could bring in the restrictions in January, which we are committed to doing. I repeat that brand advertising was always out of scope for the policy. That was confirmed during parliamentary scrutiny of the Health and Care Act 2022. This is an important area. We have laid out our determination to move forward on it and we intend to do so.

My Lords, I am sure that the Minister and her officials will be familiar with the research carried out by Professor Emma Boyland of Liverpool University, which was presented recently at the European Congress on Obesity. Professor Boyland’s results show that exposure to brand-only advertisements has the same effect as exposure to product adverts. Both brand-only and product adverts increase young children’s subsequent food intake by 130 calories. In the light of this, can the Minister assure us that the Government will consult with Professor Boyland before considering further whether or not to restrict brand advertising?

We all know that the issues in the area of obesity are complex. The professor has laid out a compelling piece of research. We will continually review all the information available in this space. Obesity has a huge personal cost to children and to adults as they grow older, and also to society and the health department. It is essential that we get this right. As things stand, this is our policy and we are moving forward on it.

My Lords, the Minister appears to have answered by omission the part of the Question about whether there will be an impact assessment. Does she acknowledge that there are a number of brands for which the whole product range is, in essence, junk food, and that adding the occasional plastic sachet of apple slices or sugar-ladened fruit smoothie does not alter the fact that those brands being advertised will have a negative impact on our children?

As I said in my Answer, that was not in scope, so we cannot have an impact statement. That is the point we are trying to get over. Things are changing, and we know that there will be attempts to bring in other products, and so we have to be vigilant. That is why we are updating our nutrient profile model, making sure that we keep a close eye on exactly what is happening and how we can best protect future generations.

My Lords, will the assessment of the so-called junk food advertising ban include an assessment of the impact on our commercial broadcasters, which are not finding the current world of competing against the streamers that easy and need every source of revenue they can get their hands on?

I thank the noble Lord for that question. The whole impact of this is closely monitored. There are all sorts of complexities that we have to bring in, including the impact on broadcasters and online advertising and how we deal with the fact that so many people watch on catch-up. All these issues are at the forefront of the Government’s mind and we will continue to monitor.

My Lords, as a child, I was profoundly influenced by an advert designed to encourage me to eat—and my mother to buy—instant mashed potato. I survived that experience, as did many others of my generation, as I can see looking around the House. Of much more profound and benign influence was the impact of domestic science being taught in my school. What proposals do the Government intend to bring forward to encourage the integration of healthy eating practice into our school curriculum?

What absolutely terrifies me is how I can remember the jingles from so many adverts from when I was a child. I am not sure if I did any revision for exams or not—I cannot remember any of that, but I remember that Smash was going to transform our lives. My noble friend will be aware of the curriculum review that is taking place. There is enormous interest in the whole area of domestic sciences, as well as food, and in the introduction and expansion of best start family hubs. It is about educating the whole family to make sure that we can move forward.

My Lords, in 2007, foods high in fats and sugar were banned during children’s TV broadcasting. Children are still obese, so that did not work, but it did affect children’s programming. What are the Government doing to promote ways for children to eat healthily that are affordable and environmentally sustainable and to offer food that tastes as good as it looks?

The noble Baroness is right, and I have alluded to this in my previous answers. The issue of tackling obesity is multilayered and complex. We have the evidence based on experience that working with families and creating excitement around healthy food is incredibly important. One of the most important things we have done, just in the last week or so, is announce mandatory healthy food sales reporting, making sure that shops take responsibility. It is heartbreaking walking into big supermarkets and seeing the amount of shelving space dedicated to attracting young people that, quite frankly, does not live up to healthy eating standards.

My Lords, as a number of noble Lords have said during this Question, there have been many top-down efforts over the years to reduce unhealthy eating and obesity, but they have all had variable levels of success. Noble Lords have said that it is important that we work with local families. Some of the best organisations, such as BRITE Box or FEAST With Us, which work with local families to help them eat healthily on a budget, are doing fantastic work in our local communities. Rather than always top-down solutions and bans, what are the Government doing to work with local community organisations to ensure that they get to families to help them to budget and eat healthily?

I completely agree with the noble Lord and I have personal experience from my background. It is empowering when a parent presents at a community organisation with a child who has an eating disorder or who is becoming obese, and they work together through cooking, education and shopping. All those things are fundamental and they need to be reinforced in schools, and I agree with the noble Lord that we need to tackle this on all levels. We obviously have to have the top-down measures that we were talking about earlier, but changing habits is going to be transformational.

My Lords, given the commercial determinants of ill health that are now clear, what work are the Government doing with local authorities to make sure that shops such as greengrocers are available on high streets across the country, so that children can work through the lessons that they might learn in school and be encouraged to eat healthily and have healthy snacks rather than be tempted by the supermarket shelves, which are certainly peddling foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar?

The different determinants of health are vital. We have laid out the commercial ones, which is why we are discussing today dealing with advertising, in particular, and other issues. On 12 December 2024, the Government published the revised National Planning Policy Framework. It is fundamental that local planning authorities and councillors have an input into healthy shops and food around schools. The noble Baroness touches on the difficult issue of being able to determine which shops open where, which I think is probably the subject for a future debate.