Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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DHSC Policy Papers, 19 July 2021
On the 6 July 2021, the Government published its Health and Care Bill which will now be debated in Parliament. Within the Bill are some items relating to controls on food – they represent a very small part of the Bill (Clauses 125-127). Today the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published Policy Papers for the different elements within the Bill.
The following are brief statements taken from the Policy Papers which relate to the food clauses.. For full details, use the links:
Section 125: Advertising of less healthy food and drink
What the Bill will do
The Bill will introduce a 9pm watershed for advertising of less healthy food or drink on TV, and a restriction on paid-for advertising of less healthy food or drink online, simultaneously, at the end of 2022. All on-demand programme services (ODPS) under the jurisdiction of the UK, and therefore regulated by Ofcom, will be included in the TV watershed. Other ODPS will be subject to the online restriction because they are not regulated by Ofcom. This policy will be implemented UK wide.
For the full Policy Paper on the DHSC website, see: Policy Paper - Health and Care Bill: advertising of less healthy food and drink
Section 126: Hospital food standards
What the Bill will do
The Bill will confer on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care a power to make secondary legislation imposing requirements about food or drink in hospitals across the NHS. If required, the regulations may, for example, specify nutritional requirements or standards, and food or drink which should or should not be provided.
For the full Policy Paper on the DHSC website, see: Policy Paper: Health and Care Bill: hospital food
Section 127: Food information for consumers: power to amend retained EU law
What the Bill will do
Retained Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 was incorporated into domestic law under the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and sets out requirements on the provision of food information to consumers which includes the labelling of prepacked food and drink in the UK. The EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 provides limited routes for amending retained direct principal EU legislation and therefore it is necessary to make express provision to allow amendments to be made to this piece of retained direct principal EU legislation.
The Health and Care Bill gives power to the Secretary of State in England and ministers in Scotland and Wales to amend the retained Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 through regulations.
Regulations made under the new power are subject to the affirmative process. This means that the Regulations made by the Secretary of State in England and ministers in Wales and Scotland must be approved by their respective chambers (either both Houses of Parliament, Senedd Cymru or Scottish Parliament).
This clause therefore allows the Secretary of State in England and ministers in Scotland and Wales to implement new policies regarding food and drink labelling requirements applicable to their relevant territories, whilst ensuring changes introduced via this power are debated and approved before implementation.
For the full Policy Paper on the DHSC website, see: Policy Paper - Health and Care Bill: food information for consumers – powers to amend retained EU law
To access the full Health and Care Bill and to follow the progress of the Bill through Parliament, see the relevant page on the UK Parliament website: Parliamentary Bills - Health and Care Bill
