Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-05-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data from which year of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey has been used to inform the development of the soft drinks industry levy.

Damian Hinds

A wide range of data shows that children in the UK are consuming too much sugar, and this is a cause of obesity and a driver of obesity-related disease. A single 330ml can of cola may contain 9 teaspoons of added sugar, which is more than a child’s daily recommended intake. This is why the government has announced an industry levy designed to encourage producers to reduce the amount of added sugar in drinks.

The most recent published National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) includes data from 2008 to 2012. It reports that sugar sweetened soft drinks are a major contributor to daily sugar intake for children, accounting for about 30% of the daily sugar intake alone.