4. 3. Statement: The Public Health (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:09 pm on 8 November 2016.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 3:09, 8 November 2016

I thank you very much for raising these issues. With regard to the advertising industry and what we can do there, the Cabinet Secretary and I were very disappointed that the UK Government’s obesity strategy didn’t take any action in terms of addressing advertising aimed at children and young people particularly. We wouldn’t have the powers here in order to legislate in that area, so the Cabinet Secretary and I have written to the UK Government expressing our disappointment and our hope that they will turn their attention to this in due course. I think there are opportunities to support Welsh food and drink businesses through our food and drink action plan, which has been led by the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs. Within that department, we have two centres, one in north Wales and one in south Wales, which are able to support businesses to become more innovative. Part of that can be reformulating their products to reduce the salt that they use, to reduce the fat that they use and the sugar that they use, but still maintain the kind of taste that the product is well known for. So, there are ways we can support our home-grown food and drink businesses in order to make more healthy products, which will make them more attractive to consumers as well.