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Health experts call for levies on unhealthy food to protect "our greatest asset"
Better health will only be possible if we move from a sickness model of health policy to a health creation model, including more use of taxes to disincentivise unhealthy food, argues the final report of IPPR's Health and Prosperity Commission. Children's Food Campaign responds.
A cross-party health and prosperity commission held by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) is urging the Government to implement touch new measures to improve the nation's health. The commission includes Lord Darzi, who recently published a report into the crisis in the NHS, as well as the former Chief Medical Officer for England Dame Sally Davies. The report's central contention is that policy must shift towards measures to actively create better health, not just policies focussed on treating sickness.
Amongst the recommendations are several policies that the Children's Food Campaign has also been calling for. Recommendations include:
- Embed polluter pays for health harming products, including junk food, alcohol and tobacco. The report argues that a 10% levy on a targetted set of less healthy food and drink products could raise over £3 billion in revenues, which could then be invested in subsidies for fruit and vegetables or other health interventions.
- Consider adopting best practice regulations already working in other countries such as health warning labels (now in Chile and other countries) on processed products high in fat, salt and sugar
- Expand universal free school meals across the nation - to primary schools in the first instance, reflecting progress in Wales, Scotland and London.
- Take immediate action to address childhood poverty - including removing the two child benefit cap.
- Empower local areas to create Health and Prosperity Improvement zones, with more powers to ensure healthy place policies. Sustain has worked with many local authorities through our Sustainable Food Places campaign and Good Food Local initiative.
The Recipe for Change coalition will be holding fringe events to explore healthier food industry incentives at Labour and Conservative Party Conference. More details here.
Responding to the report, Children's Food Campaign Manager Barbara Crowther says:
"We welcome IPPR's positive vision and the shift towards preventing ill health as well as using tight regulation to hold the food industry more accountable for public health. The government has already set out an ambition to support the healthiest generation of children, with a new Child Wellbeing Bill and action to ensure the 9pm watershed and online advertising restrictions come into force next year. However, as the report lays out clearly, it's not enough. A cross Government health mission should also be exploring how to dial up health benefits in our school food system, in our local community policies and infrastructure, as well as clear measures to incentivise healthy reformulation or penalise companies with higher taxes for the health harms they are creating."
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP has welcomed the report, saying "I want to make DHSC a department for economic growth, because we won't build a healthy economy without a healthy society. The IPPR are at the forefront of this approach, and I look forward to studying their ideas closely." Following the production of the Darzi report into the NHS, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also said that he was "prepared to be bold" to tackle ill health.
The Recipe for Change coalition's representation to the Autumn Budget has called on HMTreasury and DHSC to issue a call for evidence around incentives for a healthier food industry, to trigger further healthy reformulation, as well as increase revenues for investment in child health. A report New Government, New Opportunity, in partnership with Future Health, has also set out some of the options for how government could build on the success of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and incentivise healthy reformulation.
Published 17 Sep 2024
