Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2023 to Question 117480, for what reasons he has not conducted an assessment on the potential impact of delaying the implementation of the junk food advertising restrictions to October 2025 on (a) rates of childhood obesity and (b) meeting the 2030 ambition to halve childhood obesity; if he has held discussions with health charities concerned with childhood obesity and other health impacts of junk food advertising on health on the potential consequences of the delay; and if he will make a statement.

An impact assessment has not been conducted because the policy has not been amended, it has only had its implementation delayed. We do not expect a short-term delay to the implementation to have a significant impact in the longer term. The Department has ongoing discussions with stakeholders, including health charities, on measures to reduce obesity.