The plan also excludes measures to curb the advertising of unhealthy products to children, which had been a priority outlined by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt.
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The news follows months of lobbying by the food and drink industry to escape marketing restrictions, with many brands having already worked to reduce the amount of sugar in their products.
What’s in the government’s plan?
Aside from the tax the main industry facing measure is set to be a raft of sugar reduction targets across products popular with children, with the government out to achieve a 20% reduction by 2020. The programme will be monitored by Public Health England, which will set targets for calorie and sugar caps.
“The sugary drinks tax seems to be the only clear part of this strategy, and with funds going directly to schools that’s great, but in isolation it’s not enough”.
Public Health England published a report previous year on sugar reduction which began with the words, “We are eating too much sugar and it is bad for our health”.
Among the plans – which include a previously announced “sugar tax” on soft drinks and efforts to make young children more active – is “a broad, structured sugar reduction program to remove sugar from the products children eat most“. It is an insulting response to the United Kingdom crisis in obesity type 2 diabetes both in children and adults.
Such marketing and promotion was identified as a critical area for action by Public Health England (PHE) in its sugar reduction report past year.
The Treasury will also launch a public consultation on Thursday on the technical details of the soft-drink tax, which it hopes to legislate next year.
Health organisations and campaigners are nearly universally of the view there should have been wider action.
Has the strategy been “watered down”?
We need the game-changing strategy it promised a year ago.
“British children are now consuming three times the recommended amount of sugar and health experts agree there is a specific problem with sugar-laden soft drinks”. “This will bankrupt the NHS unless something radical is done”.
In a joint statement the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of over 30 charities, including Diabetes UK, British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK, medical royal colleges and campaign groups, said: “The soft drinks industry levy will save money tomorrow by helping to tackle children’s obesity today”.
How have experts and campaigners reacted?
But Gavin Partington, Director General of the British Soft Drinks Association, said the levy was a “punitive tax” that would “cause thousands of job losses and yet fail to have a meaningful impact on levels of obesity”.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has joined leading doctors and health campaigners in condemning the Government’s “underwhelming” childhood obesity strategy.
“It is an unforgivable missed opportunity”.
Councillor Izzi Seccombe, of the Local Government Association, said it was “disappointing” that a number of measures that it had called for – such as giving councils the power to ban junk food adverts near schools – had not been included.
What do industry figures say?
Pete Cheema, chief executive, Scottish Grocers Federation said the tax is likely to “pass on the cost to consumers and further put at risk the viability of independent convenience stores in Scotland”.
But responding to the plan, Ian Wright of the Food and Drink Federation said manufacturers recognised their responsibility in meeting the challenges posed by obesity.
“After the farce of the responsibility deal where Andrew Lansley made the food industry responsible for policing themselves, it is sad to see that this is just another imitation of the same responsibility deal take two”, said Prof Graham MacGregor, chairman of Action on Sugar and Consensus Action on Salt and Health, as reported by the Guardian.
Sara Petersson, a nutrition analyst at Euromonitor International, said the focus on sugar may detract from other crucial factors in obesity.
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The proposed sugar tax on drinks such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Red Bull will come into force from 2018.
