My Lords, I regret that I cannot follow the edict of that late, great Liberal Democrat, Nicholas Parsons, and speak for only one minute. The Committee knows that it is my habit to speak very briefly, but unfortunately I cannot do that on this occasion, although I will do my best. It is my duty as a member of the APPGs for health, obesity and a fit and healthy childhood to scrutinise this legislation and the large raft of amendments that have been made to it.
The intention of Clause 144 is of course to reduce the rise in childhood obesity, an objective with which we all agree. An early attempt to do this via legislation was the UK soft drinks industry levy, the so-called sugar tax, which was introduced in 2018. Before the levy was introduced, it had already resulted in over 50% of manufacturers reducing the sugar content of their products after it was announced in March 2016, the equivalent of 45 million kilograms of sugar every year. That was the intention: to reformulate, not to
raise tax. Since then it has continued to be highly effective in encouraging reformulation. In the 12 months following its introduction, the consumption of soft drinks rose by 7.7% as people chose healthier options, so neither the food industry nor the TV advertising industry suffered at all.
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The Government resorted to that legislation because voluntary measures had not worked well enough and childhood obesity had continued to rise. My Amendment 259A asks the Government to consult on further measures that might result in the reformulation of unhealthy food and drink products in the light of the findings from the implementation of the soft drinks industry levy. I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Grade, would support that, because I agree with him about the importance of reformulation. I think that it is a reasonable request for evidence on which future policy could be based.
In Amendment 244, the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, and my noble friend Lord Shipley ask for a consultation on whether alcohol advertising should also be further restricted. I support the idea that we should get appropriate evidence about that.
We all know that obesity can cause a massive range of diseases, as we have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Stevens—including cancer, which a lot of people do not realise—so anything that can lead to reductions in obesity must be welcomed. That is why I support the general thrust of the measures in Clause 144, although of course, like all measures, it must be evidence-based and appropriately reviewed, so probing amendments are appropriate. It is on the basis of the need for evidence that I have added my name to Amendments 247A and so on in the name of my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones, all of which would require a proper, up-to-date definition of what is meant by “less healthy food” to be established by regulation, not by guidance. A recent scientifically-confirmed definition of what is being regulated is essential for obtaining the evidence for effectiveness, which I think we will get, and will assist companies that are willing to reformulate their products. However, that definition does not appear in the Bill; indeed, the definition is to appear in regulations and guidance.
The first stage in determining whether a product is less healthy, as the DPRRC reported, is where it fits in the Nutrient Profiling Technical Guidance, which dates back to January 2011—11 years ago. This is just lazy legislation. There has been a lot of change to the products available in the last 11 years and a great deal of scientific work done on what comprises a healthy diet, so it is just not acceptable to base this legislation on guidance that is 11 years old. Can the Minister assure me that it will be updated following appropriate consultation with doctors and nutritionists—and Parliament —before the measures are implemented?
There is no doubt that children and young people’s food choices are affected by the advertisements that they see on TV and online; I have often received letters from schoolchildren confirming this. Those noble Lords probing the amendments to Clause 144 claim that they would have a very small impact on the amount of
calories that children consume—we have heard 2 calories a day being mentioned, although, frankly, I do not believe that, and the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, has explained why we should not rely on it. I believe that this is for online advertising only, but children watch linear and on-demand TV as well. Put together, all this exposure has an effect.
The National Institute for Health Research’s obesity policy research unit undertook a meta-analysis of quantitative studies which measured the impact of screen advertising on children’s and adolescents’ calorie consumption. This research showed that just 4.4 minutes of ads on TV for less healthy foods led to the consumption of over 60 calories, on average, and the figure is about 40 calories higher for obese children. Few children watch less than 4.4 minutes of TV advertisements every day.
The next issue is the need to review the effect of the measures. It is essential that this is done to ensure that we have evidenced-based legislation. In Amendment 244A the noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, requires this review to take place after six months to see whether further restrictions are needed. Amendment 249A and others seek a review after five years from implementation, against criteria set down by the Secretary of State. If not, the section would expire; in other words, a sunset clause, which is totally unnecessary. While it seems that six months is too soon and five years too long, I will be interested to hear from the Minister how and when the Government plan to assess the success of this measure.
While it may be difficult to untangle the effect of Clause 144 from that of all the other measures to reduce childhood obesity already in place, and those which are to come as a result of Henry Dimbleby’s review of food policy, it can be done—and this has been proved. Perhaps we should look at how many products have been reformulated to avoid the advertising ban and thus how much less sugar, fat and salt have been put in front of children to tempt them in their food choices. It has worked for sugary drinks; I hope it will work with this legislation, too.
On Amendments 250A and others, which would allow brands to advertise before the watershed as long as a specific HFSS food is not shown, I am uncomfortable. I heard a professor of communication say last week that brands are very powerful and young people, in particular, are influenced by them. They know very well which brands produce which foods and identify with the cartoon characters often found in them. I fear that this would dilute the effect of Clause 144, but perhaps it is something else that could be researched within a couple of years of implementation. Do the Government have any plans for that?
I believe that the Government’s intention is not to impact British SMEs, which is why I support my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones on his Amendments 251A and 253C, which would provide for a well-accepted definition of what an SMEs is.
Amendment 245A and others seek to restrict the advertising ban to Saturdays and Sundays on the basis, it is claimed, that this is when children watch the most TV. However, I have obtained contrary evidence from
Ofcom—and it should know. In 2018, Ofcom researched the hours spent watching TV on a television set, both linear and on demand, by age. The figures were as follows: for three to four years of age, 1 hour 54 minutes on a weekday and 2 hours 18 minutes on a weekend day; five to 15 years of age, l hour 36 minutes on weekdays and on a weekend day 2 hours 30 minutes. On the percentage of total hours spent watching TV by age, on Monday to Thursday three to four year-olds saw 54% of their weekly TV viewing, while from Friday to Sunday it was 46%. For five to 15 year-olds, 49% of weekly TV viewing was from Monday to Thursday, and 51% was from Friday to Sunday—so it is about half and half.
In a survey of teenagers reporting the adverts they saw online over three weeks, 73% were for less healthy foods and 53% more of these were reported by children from lower demographic groups, so there is an issue of inequalities here, as noble Lords have mentioned. On the basis of this research, I do not support Amendment 245A because children actually spend about half of their total TV viewing time during the week, and half at the weekend.
In Amendments 248 and 248A the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, seeks to exempt certain fruit and nut bars and other high-protein bars, as well as chocolate bars of less than 200 calories in portion size. While I accept that there may be an issue for so-called sports bars, perhaps this problem could be solved by a new definition of less healthy foods which exempts them. There may also be a case for certain exemptions for foods for people on special diets. On portion size, I received an interesting briefing from Ferrero showing that the industry has gradually been reducing portion sizes for some time. However, I was amused to see from its graphs that, over the same period, the value of the industry has gone up—which suggests that it is charging more for smaller products and that this is doing the industry no harm at all. Smaller portion sizes are desirable, of course, although a 200-gram chocolate bar contains half of what a child should be having in sugar in any one day. So they are desirable, unless they come in large bags which people can munch all the way through while watching a TV programme. That is not a good idea for either children or adults.
I will briefly comment on government Amendments 249 and 252, which would allow the Secretary of State to take powers to defer implementation beyond January 2023. Given the notice the industry has already had about these measures and the fact that the Government have already deferred implementation, a year from now should be quite enough time. Why do the Government feel they need these further powers? I hope the Minister can explain, and I hope that the industry will use this time to prepare advertising campaigns for its healthier products, while looking at what it can do to reformulate its HFSS products to reduce sugar, salt and fat.
Government Amendment 316 allows regulations to be laid two months after Royal Assent. I hope this means that the Government will be getting on with
things rapidly, because the industry needs to know what it is facing and children need their health to be taken into account.
Finally, I support the noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, on her Amendment 297B, which asks for research into the impact of universal free school meals and holiday meals on children’s health—and, I would add, on their ability to learn. I hope the Government will also listen carefully on the amendment about sport in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, and my noble friend.
I have asked a lot of questions, which I hope the Minister can answer, because I am confident that a well-drafted and well-evidenced measure of this kind could make a valuable contribution to reducing the scourge of childhood obesity.