Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the Government will take steps to ensure that supermarkets reduce sugar in drink products they sell to six teaspoons for every 200 ml glass, the maximum adult daily intake recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Through our voluntary partnership with industry, we have seen many supermarkets and soft drinks manufacturers take a range of actions to help their customers eat and drink fewer calories. This includes actions to reduce sugar in the drinks they produce and retail and to develop more no or low sugar options.

Businesses, comprising large and small manufacturers and the main supermarket chains and representing approximately two-thirds of the food and drink market, have agreed to adopt the United Kingdom front of pack nutrition labelling scheme. This will help people judge how much energy and nutrients, including sugar, they are eating and drinking and enable them to compare products and make healthier choices.

In June, the Scientific Advisory Committee Report on Nutrition published their draft recommendations on carbohydrates. The final report, together with advice from Public Health England on sugar in the diet, is due spring 2015. This will inform the Government’s future thinking on sugar.