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health childhood obesity

Lois Vallely

C

hildhood obesity is a mammoth prob-
le m. T he l ate s t fig u re s f rom T he Nat ion a l
Child Measurement Programme, from
October 2018, shows more than 22% of
reception children and a third of year six
children are either overweight or obese.
Yet a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the govern-
ment’s obesity strategy, with new prime minister Boris
Johnson vowing to review so-called ‘sin taxes’ last
month. Alongside multiple delays to reports and con-
sultations – not least as the food and drink industry
kicked back against the programme in the wake of
planning for Brexit – there are also concerns that plans
on the school food side have been watered down, and
funding for school sports siphoned off, and stopped.
So what’s going on?
The childhood obesity plan for action was unveiled
in 2016, with a vow to halve childhood obesity by 2030
and to significantly reduce the gap in obesity between
children from the most and least deprived areas. “No
other developed country has [attempted] anything as
ambitious” as its “ground-breaking” plan, the govern-
ment boasted at the time.
With a focus on developing a voluntary programme
of reformulation, it was quickly criticised for “watering
down” many of the measures laid out under previous
PM David Cameron. But the government insisted this
was just the beginning.
“These steps will make a real difference to help
reverse a problem that has been decades in the mak-
ing, but we have not ruled out further action if the right
results are not seen,” a spokesman promised.
The government has since published two fur-
ther ‘chapters’. Chapter two, announced in June
2018, was more legislation-focused, proposing a ban

‘Sin taxes’ are under review. Even the funds raised

from the sugar levy have been siphoned off, while

healthy eating in schools has been marginalised

“Government

has shifted

focus away

from what

schools can

do to support

children and

families”

on promotions and pre-watershed advertising for

HFSS foods, with chapter three coming out in July

2019, though this was “tucked away” under a new

Department of Health green paper (see box, right).

Yet progress on many of the key proposals has been

slow, delayed or placed under review. On the voluntary

targets on sugar reduction, a report in 2018 showed the

industry had made little progress. The report for 2019,

which was due in March, has been delayed until ‘late

summer’. A similar target proposed for calories has also

been delayed until ‘later in 2019), and after a report on

satfats was finally published on 1 August, targets are

unlikely to be drawn up until next year.

It’s a similar picture for the pre-9pm watershed adver-

tising ban on HFSS products, and the bans on various

promotions that were proposed in ‘chapter two’.

And while the government has pushed ahead with a

b a n on t he s a le of e ne rg y d r i n k s to u nde r-16 s i n c h ap te r

three, the promise of setting new salt reduction targets

in 2020 only extends the to-do list.

Public Health England has also been forced to aban-

don plans to measure sugar reduction in the out-of-

home sector, due to a lack of data, dealing a major blow

to its reformulation programme.

Not surprisingly, this has led to dismay among pres-

sure groups and NGOs. The government is being slow

when it comes to taking its obesity policies forward,

says Duncan Stephenson, deputy CEO of the Royal

Society for Public Health, especially policies on junk

food advertising, price and location-based promotions,

and mandatory calorie labelling.

“The Soft Drinks Industry Levy has been the real

success story so far, with clear evidence it has made

an impact – but it is somewhat concerning that there

have been noises within government about scrapping

Is the childhood

obesity strategy

turning into another

omnishambles?