The plan centres on the sugar tax announced by former chancellor George Osborne in March and relies on voluntary action by the food and drink industry.
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The government’s programme, “challenged” the industry to cut children’s sugar intake by at least 20% by 2020, in products such as chocolate bars, cereals and deserts including a 5% reduction in year one.
But there is no attempt to rein back advertising aimed at kids and many of its ideas, such as a scheme for the food industry to reduce sugar in children’s foods, are voluntary.
His intervention came amid reports Theresa May had overruled Mr Hunt, ordering the removal of restrictions on advertising and promotional deals on junk food amid fears they could hit employment in the food industry at a time when the economy was faltering.
The programme, the government intends to launch with funds raised from the sugar levy, will focus on promoting healthy diets and physical activity in schoolchildren, Public Health Minister Nicola Blackwood said.
He praised a sugar tax on soft drinks, but said too much of the plan was voluntary.
We need the game-changing strategy it promised a year ago.
“The evidence is compelling that we also need restrictions on the marketing and promotion of unhealthy foods“, added Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive.
However the British Medical Association, which represents doctors, said that failing to introduce legislation to force food manufacturers to cut sugar levels makes the policy “pointless”.
Last year Public Health England called for a ban on sugary products at tills and an end to junk food advertising targeted at children.
The TV chef said the plan is “underwhelming” and far from robust “with so much missing”.
“Given the economic uncertainty our country now faces we’re disappointed the Government wishes to proceed with a measure which analysis suggests will cause thousands of job losses and yet fail to have a meaningful impact on levels of obesity”, Gavin Partington, director general at the British Soft Drinks Association, says.
“With this disappointing and, frankly, underwhelming strategy, the health of our future generations remains at stake”. “The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recently concluded that sugar consumption increases the risk of consuming too many calories, the risk of tooth decay, and that consumption of sugar sweetened beverages is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes and linked to higher weight in children”, says the document.
($6.7bn) spent on treating overweight and obesity-related ill-health in 2014/15 in England alone.
‘We will continue to lobby the government for more decisive action and apply pressure on the food and drink industry until a telling change is made’.
The plan also calls on primary schools to deliver at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day and to help parents and carers ensure children get the same amount at home.
Today the long-awaited plan was published and it details the government’s strategy for tackling obesity in kids as almost a third of children aged two to 15 are overweight or obese and younger generations are becoming obese at earlier ages and staying obese for longer.
Other points of action and further information can be accessed in the strategy.
In addition to the new sugar guidelines, a new “healthy schools rating scheme” will be introduced to assess what schools are doing to make their pupils more physically active during Ofsted inspections.
“Even after delaying publication for a whole year, the government has fallen far short of what is needed and is failing to take the necessary measures to tackle childhood obesity”, said the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of 33 leading national charities, Medical Royal Colleges, and campaign groups. “We hope this announcement signals government’s recognition that working together with United Kingdom agencies, brands and media will get us further, faster in improving the nation’s health”. According to Public Health England, nearly 62 percent of adults and 31 percent of children aged 2 to 15 are overweight or obese.
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“Along with banning firms using child friendly cartoon characters in advertising and a ban on multi-buy promotions in supermarkets it would have given people in the United Kingdom the best possible chance of a healthy life and reduce the amount of sugar we consume”.
