Government action to tackle obesity crisis ‘far from bold’ - say Lords

However, the government recognises that reducing obesity rates will require reshaping the food environment

The Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee has expressed disappointment with the government’s response to its recommendations for tackling the obesity crisis.

In October 2024, the Committee released its report, Recipe for Health: A Plan to Fix Our Broken Food System, following a special inquiry.

The report identified obesity and diet-related diseases as a public health emergency, costing society billions annually in healthcare expenses and lost productivity.

It urged the government to develop a “comprehensive, integrated long-term new strategy to fix the food system”, supported by a new legislative framework and outlined key actions that should be included.

The government published its response to the report on 30 January 2025, but the Committee criticized it for lacking boldness and delaying many necessary measures.

Baroness Walmsley, who chaired the Committee said: “In recent interviews with researchers, former prime ministers and health secretaries expressed regret that they had not done more to tackle obesity and advised the government to ‘be bold and act fast’.

“The report from the Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee recommended bold measures to be implemented immediately.

“However, the government’s response is far from bold and kicks many desirable actions into the long grass.”

While he is "very disappointed," he is encouraged by the government's acknowledgement of the obesity crisis, which is caused by “what foods are available, what they are made from, their affordability, their marketing and the rise of the out-of-home food sector.”

Walmsley added that they would continue applying pressure on the government to improve children’s health.

Government plans to obesity crisis

In its response to the Committee’s report, the government recognised the need to improve the food environment to combat the obesity crisis.

The policy paper reads: “As part of this government’s Plan for Change, we are committed to achieving our health mission to Build an NHS Fit for the Future.

“Reducing obesity rates will help make the country fairer, allow people to be healthier for longer and reduce early deaths from the biggest killers. But to do this will require reshaping the food environment that has caused the rise in obesity.

“This needs effective action across government, including devolved governments and local authorities, as well as across industry and all of society.”

The government accepted the Committee’s recommendation to take into account the policies and developments relating to food and the food environment, diet and obesity prevalence since 2020.

In response to the recommendation for a new, comprehensive, and integrated food strategy, the government stated that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is leading the health mission, which aims to shorten the time people spend in ill health, support independence, reduce health inequalities and drive economic growth.

In alignment with the health mission, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is developing an ambitious food strategy with close cross-government collaboration, including with DHSC and the Department for Education (DfE) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

“Food policy will be an important part of achieving the health mission’s goals,” the government noted.

Delivery of the health mission will be overseen by its cross-government board, chaired by the health secretary.

The government is currently developing options and approaches, with further details on both programmes to be announced soon.

Ban advertising of unhealthy food

The Committee also called on the government to introduce legislation banning the advertising of HFSS (high in fat, salt, and sugar) food and drink across all physical and digital media, as well as ads from businesses that fail to reach mandatory health targets.

They added that this ban should begin by October 2026 at the latest, with a complete ban in place by the end of this Parliament.

In response, the government said that they have committed to restrict advertisements of less healthy food or drink products before 9 pm on television, and all paid-for advertising of these products online across the UK from 1 October 2025.

On 3 December 2024, it laid the secondary legislation ‘The Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024’ in Parliament to implement these restrictions.

These restrictions are estimated to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from UK children’s diets per year and reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000.

The Committee report will be debated in the House on 28 March, 2025 at 10:00 am.

The House of Lords appointed the Food, Diet, and Obesity Committee on 24 January 2024 to examine the role of foods, including 'ultra-processed foods' and those high in fat, salt, and sugar, in promoting a healthy diet and addressing obesity.

Following the State Opening of Parliament on 17 July 2024, the Committee was reappointed on 29 July 2024.