In the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government committed to updating the standards behind the advertising and promotions restrictions on ‘less healthy’ food and drink products by applying the new Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM). The Government published the new NPM on 27 January. The new NPM is built on the latest science and has been updated in line with the latest dietary advice, especially on reducing children’s consumption of free sugars. Children are consuming twice the level of free sugars as recommended which can contribute to tooth decay and obesity.

Breakfast cereals can contribute to fibre and micronutrient intakes, but this needs to be balanced against their contribution to free sugars intake in children. Breakfast cereals are often fortified with micronutrients, and can make useful contributions to riboflavin, folate, vitamin D, and iron where intakes are low in older children aged 11 to 18 years old. However, the contribution made by breakfast cereals to children’s free sugars intake is similar to contributions from ‘sweet biscuits’, from ‘buns, cakes, pastries and fruit pies’ or from ‘sugars, preserves and sweet spreads’.

There are breakfast cereals that are higher in fibre and lower in free sugars that pass the new NPM.

The consultation on updating the school food standards, which includes standards for breakfast cereals, closed on 12 June. The Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care are currently considering the responses.

Like the current NPM, NPM 2004/5, the new NPM uses a scoring system in which points are allocated for nutrients or ingredients within a food or drink per 100 grams. The model balances the contribution made by ‘beneficial’ nutrients, that is, protein, fibre, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, to a child’s diet, alongside the ‘negative’ contributions from nutrients, that is, energy, saturated fat, free sugars and salt, of which children’s intakes are higher than recommended. The protein component of the model acts as a marker for micronutrients. The new NPM also awards more positive points to fibre than the current model.

The NPM is not about restricting reformulation. The aim is to stop the targeting of ‘less healthy’ food and drink marketing to children and encourage further reformulation and the promotion of healthier options. While some products previously reformulated to meet the NPM 2004/05 may need to go further, the new NPM continues to incentivise reformulation and to support industry to deliver healthier products over time by allowing greater credit for fibre. A full public consultation on the proposed application of the new NPM to the advertising and promotions restrictions closed on 17 June. This consultation sought feedback on the impact and challenges of applying the new NPM.

We will use evidence from the consultation to inform final policy decisions and the final impact assessment which, subject to the outcome of the consultation, would be published ahead of any changes being made.

The School Food Standards set the mandatory nutritional framework for food and drink provided in state‑funded schools in England. Since the Standards were introduced in 2014, the dietary recommendations on free sugar, fibre and sweeteners have changed and the proportion of children living with obesity is high.

The department is committed to raising the healthiest generation ever, so we are consulting on proposed updates to the School Food Standards in England to ensure that all food served at school better reflects current nutritional guidance and supports children’s health, wellbeing and learning.

The consultation is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-food-standards-updating-the-legislative-framework.

As part of our proposals, we are consulting on removing fruit juice and combination drinks from school meal services. We are also proposing to limit available drinks to water, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, lactose free milk and certain plant-based drinks, with a restricted range of low or no sugar drinks permitted in secondary schools.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) does not issue specific guidance mandating the reduction or removal of sugar from prescription medicines. Decisions on formulation, including the use of sugars or artificial sweeteners as excipients, are made by manufacturers but are subject to MHRA assessment as part of the marketing authorisation process to ensure that medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. In practice, sweeteners may be required to ensure medicines are palatable and acceptable to patients. The safety of excipients, including artificial sweeteners, is considered during licensing, and their use must be appropriately justified. Where relevant, information is included in product information to support healthcare professionals in advising patients, including those who may have sensitivities or intolerances.

The MHRA’s role is to regulate medicines to ensure that they are acceptably safe, of suitable quality, and effective, rather than to determine individual product formulations. Manufacturers are responsible for developing medicines, including decisions on the use of excipients such as artificial sweeteners, which must be justified and are assessed as part of the licensing process. The MHRA requires that excipients are clearly described in product information, enabling prescribers to take account of patient-specific factors, including any known intolerance. Where alternatives are available, prescribing decisions can be made to select the most appropriate formulation for the patient. The MHRA continues to work with partners across the system to support the availability of a broad range of medicines to meet patient needs.

The current Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) is over 20 years out of date and does not reflect the latest evidence, particularly on free sugars, which are more strongly correlated with poor health outcomes, including obesity. The Government has committed to updating the standards behind the advertising and promotions restrictions on ‘less healthy’ food and drink by applying the new NPM.

The Government published the new NPM on 27 January 2026 alongside technical guidance to support business to understand the new NPM and apply it to their products, including worked examples on how to calculate free sugars and NPM scores in a range of products. Since publication of the new NPM, we are continuing to engage with industry on what further support would be helpful.

We have launched a consultation on the proposed application of the new NPM to the advertising and promotions restrictions, which is open until 17 June 2026. The consultation seeks feedback on the impact and challenges associated with the proposal for industry and enforcement authorities and gathers views on what further support is needed to help businesses and enforcement authorities to adapt to the requirements of the new NPM. We will consider whether further guidance is needed following feedback to the consultation.

A consultation-stage impact assessment, setting out the direct costs to businesses for the proposed application of the new NPM to these restrictions, was published alongside the consultation. We will use evidence from the consultation to inform the final impact assessment which, subject to the outcome of the consultation, would be published ahead of any changes being made.

Detailed impact assessments for the current advertising and promotions restrictions, which set out the costs to industry can also be found on GOV.UK. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the restrictions and will publish a Post Implementation Review within five years of the restrictions taking legal effect.

The Government has committed to updating the standards behind the current advertising and promotions restrictions on ‘less healthy’ food and drink.

The advertising and promotions restrictions currently rely on the outdated Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) 2004/05. The new NPM has been updated in line with the latest dietary advice from the United Kingdom’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, particularly in relation to free sugar and fibre. The Government published the new NPM on 27 January. Applying it to the restrictions will strengthen these policies by bringing more products of concern for children’s health into scope.

On 25 March, we launched a 12-week consultation on the proposed application of the new NPM to the advertising and promotion restrictions and published an impact assessment of the direct costs to businesses and intended health outcomes. We will use evidence from the consultation to inform the final impact assessment, which we will publish prior to amending the advertising and promotions restrictions legislation.

The NPM is not about restricting reformulation. The aim is to stop the targeting of ‘less healthy’ food and drink marketing to children and to encourage further reformulation and the promotion of healthier options. While some products previously reformulated to meet the NPM 2004/05 may need to go further, the new NPM continues to incentivise reformulation and supports industry to deliver healthier products over time by allowing greater credit for fibre.

We have published detailed technical guidance to support consistent calculation of free sugars, including a clear definition, a decision tree to help identify when a free sugars calculation is needed, and worked examples across a wide range of food and drink products. We continue to engage closely with industry and other stakeholders to address technical points relating to the new NPM and calculating free sugars and to determine what might support them further.

On 27 January, the Government published the new nutrient profiling model (NPM). This included associated NPM technical guidance to support businesses to understand the new NPM and apply it to their products and worked examples on how to calculate free sugars and NPM scores in a range of products.

Since publication of the new NPM in January, we have been engaging closely with industry to address technical points relating to the new NPM and calculating free sugars. On 25 February, we participated in the development of the Institute of Grocery Distribution free sugars calculation roundtable, ahead of launching the consultation on applying the new NPM to the advertising and promotions restrictions on 25 March 2026.