Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum

May 2020

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***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***

This conference is bringing together key stakeholders and policymakers to discuss the way forward for policy and industry practice on children’s food and nutrition in England.

Key areas for discussion:

• The Childhood Obesity Plan - next steps for implementation of, including:
  
  • addressing the key challenges for nutrition in the early years and school,
  • insights from successful case studies, and industry initiatives aimed at reducing the incidence of childhood obesity and malnutrition,
  • best practice in promoting healthy and sustainable attitudes to food and reducing childhood inequalities, and
  • what more can be done to support children and families to reach and maintain a healthy weight.
• The Marmot Review 10 Years On and recent government commitments - with discussion expected on:
  
  • what more can be done to reduce variation in access to nutritious food, and identify and support at-risk groups by placing health equity at the heart of policy,
  • next steps for product reformulation and calorie labelling to improve the nutritional content of food and encourage behaviour change, and
  • options for developing the of the UK sugar levy.
• Community-based solutions - including discussion on:
  
  • what is being done at a local level and across primary care to provide to identify malnutrition and promote healthy weight management,  and
  • supporting children susceptible to malnutrition throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and assessing initiatives such as the recently announced free school meals voucher scheme, and
  • how provision of food in schools may need to change going forward and the support that may be needed to introduce the necessary measures.
• The out-of-home sector - assessing what is being done to provide healthier choices and better inform consumers, areas of innovation and further action that could be taken.

Developments that are relevant to the discussion:

• The recently launched free school meals voucher scheme aiming to continue providing meals to children eligible for them whilst they stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Inequalities policy and developments, including:
  
  • new National Child Measurement Programme data showing obesity prevalence to be highest among children living in the most deprived areas of England;
  • the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care reaffirming his ambition to reduce inequality through prevention in his key priorities for 2020, and
  • publication of Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On.
• Implementing Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s - food labelling, reformulation, improving nutritional content, and supporting individuals to achieve and maintain a healthier weight;
• The independent Time to solve childhood obesity report from the former CMO and its calls for action across industry and the public sector to meet 2030 obesity reduction targets;
• Development of the independent National Food Strategy for England - with an interim report due in the spring; and
• PHE’s latest progress report on results of the sugar reduction programme highlighting variation in reducing the sugar in food between at-home and the out-of-home sector.

The agenda:

• Progress to date and implementing Chapter 3 of the Childhood Obesity Plan;
• National Food Strategy and developing a food system that encourages healthy and sustainable diets;
• Nutrition in early years and school - improving attitudes to food, and supporting children and families to achieve and maintain a healthy weight;
• Prevention, identification, and management of obesity and complications of Covid 19;
• Innovative approaches to reducing childhood obesity and malnutrition:
  
  • Reducing inequality in access to healthy and nutritious food and helping at-risk groups;
  • Moving beyond the sugar reduction programme - reformulation and calorie labelling; and
  • The out-of-home sector - creating healthier choices and supporting consumer choice.

Policy officials attending

Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stake holders.

It’s certainly the case with this one. Places have been reserved by officials from DHSC; Defra; Food Standards Scotland; the Welsh Government; and the Department for International Trade.

This is a full-scale conference taking place online***

• full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
• information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
• conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
• speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
• opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
• a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
• delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
• networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!

Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference

• Dropbox video recording of the conference
• PDF transcript of the discussion, including all speaker remarks and Q&A
• PDFs of speakers' slide material (subject to permission)
• PDFs of the delegate pack, including speaker biographies and attendee list
• PDFs of delegate articles