Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to allow the Scottish Government to restrict junk food advertising to children.

Departmental officials will continue to work with colleagues in the devolved administrations, sharing our thinking and progress to ensure children across the United Kingdom can have the best start in life.

Current advertising restrictions in the UK on high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) products are among the toughest in the world. Strict new rules came into effect on 1 July banning the advertising of HFSS food or drink products in children’s media. These restrictions apply across all non-broadcast media including in print, cinema, online and in social media.

In August we announced £5 million investment in a policy research unit on childhood obesity to provide a robust evidence, evaluation and research capability including looking at the impact of marketing on childhood obesity. The unit’s findings will be fed into future meetings with colleagues across the UK.