Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the (a) quality of responses to his Department's consultation on total restriction of online advertising for products high in fat, sugar and salt, and (b) potential merits of extending that consultation to allow for more responses to be submitted.

We have already received a number of responses to the current consultation, and we hope that the public and industry stakeholders make full and constructive contributions to the consultation. The consultation is due to close on 22 December, having run for a total of six weeks. We have no plans to extend the consultation.

When we announced that we would be consulting on a total online HFSS advertising restriction we committed to this being a short consultation.

The Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted that for our nation to be a healthy, resilient country we need to help prevent obesity developing and support those who are already overweight or living with obesity to reduce their weight and improve their health. The Prime Minister is clear that this is a priority for him and he wants to push ahead with measures to tackle obesity, and get policies implemented as soon as possible.

Our 2019 consultation was open for 12 weeks as it dealt with a broader range of policy including: TV, online, other media, and products in scope. This consultation just focuses on online, therefore we think a short consultation is appropriate.