Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of junk food advertising on childhood obesity.

As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan for England, we are taking decisive action on the obesity crisis, easing the strain on our National Health Service and creating the healthiest generation of children ever. We have implemented United Kingdom-wide restrictions on advertising of less healthy food and drink on television and online which we estimate will remove up to 7.2 billion calories from UK children’s diets each year and deliver health benefits of approximately £2 billion. We have also committed to updating the standards that underpin the advertising and promotions restrictions on ‘less healthy’ food and drink to reflect the latest dietary advice and strengthen the restrictions by more effectively targeting the products of most concern to childhood obesity.

An impact assessment on the advertising restrictions of less healthy food and drink on television and online is published on the GOV.UK website.