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Written question asked by Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK) on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 March 2026. It was answered by Sharon Hodgson (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 April 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Energy Drinks: Children

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects to publish draft regulations on the ban on high-caffeine energy drink sales to under 16s; what lead in time she considers appropriate for vending operators; and whether the Government plans a staged implementation or any pilot programme for new enforcement technologies.

Answer

The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:

- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;

- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;

- how the ban will apply in vending machines;

- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and

- how the ban would be enforced.

We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.

The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
123161
Session
2024-26
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Children Sales Vending machines Caffeine Energy drinks
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk