Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 24 August 2019 | The Grocer | 25the levy. Now more than ever we need bold action and
commitment to follow through plans to reduce child-
hood obesity.”
What about schools?
The other key plank of the government’s childhood
obesity policy was to explore the role that schools could
play. This included plans outlined in chapter one to set
up a ‘healthy schools rating scheme’, a voluntary ini-
tiative for schools that would ‘recognise and encour-
age their contribution to supporting pupil health and
wellbeing’ by measuring schools on the steps they were
taking in four areas: school food standards, food edu-
cation, physical education and ‘active travel’ (ie walk-
ing or cycling to school).
The programme finally launched in July, with a beta
phase for all schools set for the 2019/20 school year. Yet
in addition to the slow speed of implementation, there
are concerns that the scheme has been undermined by
subsequent policy development in a number of areas.
One of the key components of the obesity plan was
to increase sports activity in schools, supported by
new funds made available through the soft drinks
sugar levy.
But it’s emerged that only £100m out of the £415m
that was raised in year one through the sugar levy has
been used on health and wellbeing projects. The rest
of the money in the ‘healthy pupils capital fund’ has
been spent on fixing a £300m shortfall in the educa-
tion budget. What’s more, the fund was limited to one-
year only, with future revenue from the soft drinks levy
expected to be pocketed by the Treasury, prompting
outrage among NGOs.
“Many of the proposals in the government’s child-
hood obesity plan require spending, and yet – out-
rageously – they have made zero commitments to
ring-fence the one new source of income they have –
the soft drinks levy,” says Sustain’s Reynolds.
But it’s not just funding. Another concern is that the
importance of a healthy diet in the schools programme
has been marginalised. Indeed, when Ofsted published
its new education inspection framework in January
2019, the phrase ‘healthy eating’ had been taken out
of the new framework altogether. It was only “through
concerted and unprecedented lobbying by NGOs” that
the phrase was reinserted, but even so, says Stephanie
Wood, CEO of School Food Matters, the role of food in
the new framework is still minimal.Childhood obesity
plan: the story so farChapter One, Aug 2016
→ Soft drinks sugar levy
(introduced April 2018)
→ Voluntary targets for
industry to slash sugar
on key contributors to
children’s sugar intake
by 20% by 2020, with
moves on calories and
satfats to followChapter Two, June 2018
→ Government sets out
plan to ban bogofs
and promotions of
unhealthy food at
checkouts, front of
store and end of aisles
→ Proposals for 9pm
watershed for
advertising HFSS
products, and similar
protections onlineChapter Three, July 2019
→ Ban on sale of energy
drinks to under-16s
→ Promises new salt
reduction targets for
2020