Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:11 pm on 9 November 2016.
Well, the Welsh Government joined many others in expressing some disappointment at the lack of ambition in the UK Government’s childhood obesity strategy. There are a number of areas in which the Welsh Government has consistently urged the Secretary of State for Health to deliver stronger action at a UK level, and that includes tougher action on sugar, for example, and particularly on the advertising of unhealthy foods to children. The Cabinet Secretary and I have jointly written to the Secretary of State for Health on this precise matter, expressing our disappointment and pressing the case for tougher action as well. But, in the meantime, we do continue to use all of the levers that we have here in Wales, for example, to support our food industry centres to help reformulate their products to reduce sugar, salt and fat, and we continue to work to ensure that children have a healthier start in life, for example, through our 10 Steps to a Healthy Weight programme, our Healthy Child Wales programme and the network of healthy schools initiative, which 99 per cent of schools in Wales are taking part in.