There is a wealth of evidence that consistently shows that populations that have a high intake of fruit and vegetables have a lower incidence of heart disease and some cancers. It is the mixture of components in fruit and vegetables that is protective rather than one individual component. In addition to their valuable nutrient content, fruit and vegetables are a good source of fibre. Eating plenty of fibre is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer. Around nine in 10 people in the UK are not meeting the recommended amount of 30g of fibre a day. Eating at least five portions a day is an important factor in maintaining a healthy weight. All fruit and vegetables provide vitamins and minerals and are also a good source of fibre.

But changing what we eat requires a shift in dietary habits, which we know can be very difficult to make. That's why we need to take a multifaceted, balanced approach that is grounded in people's everyday lives. We need to focus on sustainable change. So, what can we do? The Welsh Government's 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' strategy is the first step towards a cross-Government approach to reduce obesity in Wales on a population scale. The strategy was launched in October 2019 and is supported by biennial delivery plans. There is no easy solution, but with a targeted approach across a number of key areas we aim to support people by making the healthy choice the easy choice. I will be launching a 2022-24 delivery plan early next year, which will include a funding commitment of over £13 million. This will include funding obesity services to provide access to support across Wales, delivering system-led activity that will work with our communities, piloting interventions such as the children and families programme, and developing behavioural-led campaigns to support sustainable change.

The strategy and plan will help to provide people with the right advice, information, tools and support to nudge behaviours whilst placing a strong focus upon changing the environment in which we live. This includes looking at price promotions, calorie labelling and planning to use our legislative powers. I'm also fully committed to working across the UK to take bold action. The only cross-UK measure to date that has had a significant impact is the soft drinks industry levy. This is not because people have shifted their drinks choices to avoid paying a few pennies more, but because the food industry have taken tonnes of sugar out of their drinks and invested more in their lower and sugar-free options. We want to build on this kind of success. We've consulted jointly on how front-of-pack nutritional labelling could be improved to give consumers much clearer information to make informed choices. We will also shortly be consulting on proposals to include calorie labelling on alcohol. We're also working with the UK Government to redress the imbalance in food and drink advertising. This is currently heavily weighted towards products high in fat, salt and sugar. Only 2 per cent of the total food advertising spend is on fruit and vegetables. By the end of next year there will be a complete ban on advertising products high in fat, salt and sugar pre the 9 p.m. watershed on television, and on paid-for advertising online.

The food industry is an incredibly important and innovative part of our everyday lives. I want us to work with industry in a productive way to achieve these changes. Whist introducing legislation will help to create a level playing field, I also want us to work with businesses to consider how we can support and scale change. Industry is being encouraged to make the food it sells healthier and less calorific. There have been positive examples to date, but much more can be done. For example, as part of our healthy weight plan we will be working with Welsh businesses to support reformulation through our food innovation centres.

We've also committed through our programme for government to produce a community food strategy. I will work across Government to ensure this links with the outcomes in our healthy weight strategy and places a focus on health inequalities. We know that the early years of a child's life are vital in creating those important healthy eating habits for the future. In order to support those parents who can least afford it, I'm committed to increasing the uptake of the Healthy Start scheme, which provides vouchers for children in families on low incomes to spend on healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables. This year we've increased the voucher value to £4.25 from £3.10 a week. We're also working to digitalise the scheme in order to increase accessibility and reduce the stigma that is often felt by those in receipt of them.

We will also be investing in a behavioural change programme through 10 Steps to a Healthy Weight to encourage incremental change with parents. Alongside this work, we will be working across the UK to consult on the labelling of manufactured infant food, which can currently be misleading and at odds with public health policy. We will be revisiting our Welsh network of healthy schools scheme, which will help embed a more targeted and outcome-focused approach, of which tackling childhood obesity will be a key priority. And we will work with national campaigns such as Veg Power, which is aiming to inspire kids from early years through to primary school and their teens. This will aim to create veggie-loving habits that they will hopefully keep for life and, in turn, share with their children. We were pleased to support funding of the campaign this year, which accessed over 100 schools across Wales.

We all know what we should be eating, but eating well and sustaining it, for most of us, is a constant battle. For good reason, the backdrop to our everyday lives has been termed an obesogenic environment. It's vitally important we change this. Year on year in Wales, as across the world, obesity continues to increase and our diet-related disease rates keep rising too. Obesity is on course to overtake smoking as the No. 1 cause of avoidable death and disease. I am absolutely committed to drive change across Wales. Through our 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' strategy, we can help to make the healthy choice to become the normal choice in all of our lives. Diolch.