21 Rejected

Broaden regulations to ban all HFSS food price promotions and meal deals

Recommendation
We are not convinced that the delay to banning certain volume price promotions for HFSS food will save consumers money, given the Government’s own analysis on this matter. Of less doubt is that it will make the fight against unhealthy eating and obesity even harder. The Government Response should forecast rates of being overweight and being obese had the HFSS food volume price promotions been introduced in October 2022 compared to their planned introduction of October 2025. The regulations restricting discounts on HFSS food should be broadened to exclude all price promotions of HFSS food, to ban meal deals where any element of a meal deal has to be cooked prior to eating, and to extend the regulations’ coverage to all food shops.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's recommendations to forecast obesity rates, broaden HFSS food promotion restrictions, ban certain meal deals, and extend coverage to all food shops, reiterating its decision to delay existing volume price promotion restrictions until October 2025 due to cost of living concerns and stating meal deals are excluded.
Paragraph Reference
84
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government Rejected
Given the current challenges caused by higher than expected global energy and food prices, following the pandemic, which have already led to an unavoidable increase in the cost of living around the world, the Government does not want to take action now that could contribute to this rise. We have therefore taken the decision to delay the implementation of the volume price promotion restrictions by a further two years, so that the volume price promotion restrictions come into force from October 2025. This delay will support businesses and allow them to focus on making food more affordable for families and make it easier to consumers to make healthier choices. Delaying the volume price promotion restrictions to October 2025 will result in additional years for the health benefits to start to accrue. However, over the long term, we still expect these measures to have a significant impact on obesity. We believe that this is the best approach to tackle the long-term problem of obesity, while recognising the current challenges caused by higher food prices. The volume price promotion restrictions are expected to accrue health benefits of over £2 billion and provide NHS savings of £180m over a 25-year period. The Government welcomes the actions taken by some retailers who voluntarily limiting the promotion of less healthy products before the new regulations come into force. Furthermore, the location restrictions on the placement of less healthy products in key selling locations came into force on 1 October 2022. The location restrictions are the single most impactful policy at reducing children’s calorie intakes. The location restrictions are expected to accrue health benefits of over £57 billion and NHS savings of over £4 billion, over the next 25 years. With the implementation of the location restrictions in 2022, 96% of the expected health benefits of the promotions policy have begun to accrue. Calorie labelling in large restaurants, cafes and takeaways have also been in force since April 2022. Further restrictions on the advertising of less healthy products before 9pm on TV and paid-for advertising online will come into force from October 2025. The volume price promotion restrictions are designed to target volume price deals such as ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ and ‘3 for 2’, where consumers are incentivised to purchase more than they originally intended. Studies show that volume price promotions encourage the over purchasing of less healthy products and result in a greater sales uplift in comparison to simple price reductions. Meal deals are excluded from the volume price promotion restrictions because they are targeted at adults who tend to consume all of the products during the same eating occasion rather than stockpile at home. Meal deals also aim to reduce the cost of a single meal rather than incentivise additional purchases.
Timeline
Recommendation age 2.8 yrs
Report published 28 Jul 2023