Minister for Public Health (): This Government has set a
bold ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children ever
and this includes tackling the childhood obesity crisis. As part
of this, we committed in our Manifesto to implementing
advertising restrictions for less healthy food and drink on TV
and online.
I updated the House on 16 July when launching a consultation on
the draft regulations to provide an explicit exemption for brand
advertising from the advertising restrictions. The consultation,
which closed on 6 August 2025, re-confirmed the Government's
policy position that brand advertising which does not identify a
less healthy food or drink product(s) is out of scope of the
restrictions. This was set out in my previous statements to the
House and was understood by Parliament during the passage of the
primary legislation (Health and Care Act 2022 which amended the
Communications Act 2003). The consultation sought views on the
drafting of the regulations to ensure they are clear and fit for
purpose in achieving this.
We have carefully considered the responses, many of which were
submitted on behalf of organisations from a range of sectors. The
Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport also engaged with stakeholders
throughout the consultation period to understand a broad range of
views.
I am delighted to inform the House that, today, the Government
will lay the Advertising (Less Healthy Food and Drink) (Brand
Advertising Exemption) Regulations 2025 and Explanatory
Memorandum before Parliament. The Government will also be
publishing its response to the consultation on Gov.uk.
We have been careful to protect the primary policy objective by
ensuring the regulations set robust and objective criteria to
only permit brand advertising that does not identify specific
less healthy food or drink products. This means we are being
tough on junk food advertising but not pigeon-holing brands as
‘less healthy' and instead incentivising them to reformulate and
promote their healthier products. The regulations will enable the
regulators to provide clear guidance on how they will enforce the
restrictions. They will also allow industry to invest in
advertising campaigns with confidence that they will be
compliant.
Laying this legislation today demonstrates our rapid progress to
implementing the advertising restrictions which take legal effect
on 5 January 2026. As I set out in my WMS of 22 May, we have
secured a unique commitment from advertisers and broadcasters,
with the support of online platforms, to voluntarily comply with
the restrictions from 1 October 2025. We welcome this
co-operation.
We will now work closely with Ofcom and the Advertising Standards
Authority as they finalise their implementation guidance. I am
delighted that in taking this action we are tackling childhood
obesity head-on by removing up to 7.2 billion calories from UK
children's diets each year.
