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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.
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?
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.
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that cigarette filter tips are included in the definition of relevant products in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that are not allowed to be advertised or promoted.
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that cigarette filter tips are included in the definition of relevant products in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that are not allowed to be advertised or promoted.
The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 prohibits any advertisements whose purpose or effect is to promote a tobacco product. The Advertising Standards Authority’s rules state that marketing communications for cigarette filters should not encourage people to start smoking or increase their consumption.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill restates the restrictions on the advertising of tobacco products. We have no current plans to introduce additional restrictions on the advertising of filters through the bill.
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address the nutritional content, labelling and promotion of convenience foods aimed at very young children, including fruit pouches and snacks.
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address the nutritional content, labelling and promotion of convenience foods aimed at very young children, including fruit pouches and snacks.
My Lords, good nutrition is essential to our goal of
raising the healthiest generation of children. Foods for infants and young children have to meet regulations on nutrition, composition and labelling standards. More widely, we are committed to tackling the child obesity crisis and government actions, including the junk food advertising ban, demonstrate the scale of our ambition in this area.
My Lords, I echo the comment of the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, “Oh dear”, because this issue is not new. In 2019, Public Health England drew attention to the fact that these products contain free sugars, they are not advised by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition for these young children and they are very misleadingly labelled. Every time the Government respond to this, they do what the Minister has just done and say that there are very good regulations about nutritional content and regulation. But does the Minister agree that regulations are only as good as their enforcement, and these are not being enforced? So, when the Government have their many conversations with the food industry, will they please get a grip and stop these companies producing products that are making our children obese, with rotting teeth?
My Lords, I echo the comment of the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, “Oh dear”, because this issue is not new. In 2019, Public Health England drew attention to the fact that these products contain free sugars, they are not advised by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition for these young children and they are very misleadingly labelled. Every time the Government respond to this, they do what the Minister has just done and say that there are very good regulations about nutritional content and regulation. But does the Minister agree that regulations are only as good as their enforcement, and these are not being enforced? So, when the Government have their many conversations with the food industry, will they please get a grip and stop these companies producing products that are making our children obese, with rotting teeth?
I hope the noble Baroness will be pleased to know that I recognise the view she states. I realise that this has gone on for some time and I am grateful for her work in this area, including through chairing the Lords committee that produced a very helpful report. I recognise that the current situation is not good enough.
On the matter of food regulations and enforcement, it is the responsibility of local authorities in England to enforce legislation where breaches are suspected. Local authorities will liaise with businesses to clarify and, if necessary, agree the action to put it right. It is indeed the responsibility of individual businesses to ensure that they comply with the law, and I assure the noble Baroness that that is a matter we will continue to press, as well as keeping those food regulations under review.
My Lords, I appreciate that this is slightly to one side of the Question, but can my noble friend tell me whether any work is being done to find out how many advertisements for easy ways of gambling away your money are seen by children?
My Lords, I appreciate that this is slightly to one side of the Question, but can my noble friend tell me whether any work is being done to find out how many advertisements for easy ways of gambling away your money are seen by children?
My Lords, I do not have any specific response to that, except to say that the ASA is able to investigate any complaints about the effect of ads on particularly vulnerable groups, which potentially would include gamblers. Certainly, if you watch paid-for sport television, you get a very large number of ads for online betting, which I find distasteful—but, as with many things in life, there is an interesting argument to be had about the line between what is distasteful and what should be banned.
To ask Her Majesty's Government (a) what research and analysis they have conducted, and (b) what research and analysis by other organisations they are aware of, in regard to the effects on children of television product placement of (1) gambling products, (2) alcohol, (3) tobacco, and (4) foods high in...
To ask Her Majesty's Government (a) what research and analysis they have conducted, and (b) what research and analysis by other organisations they are aware of, in regard to the effects on children of television product placement of (1) gambling products, (2) alcohol, (3) tobacco, and (4) foods high in...