Public Health Responsibility Deal: Government is taking pressure off pubs to serve healthier food
However, Kate Nicholls, strategic affairs director at the Association of Licensed Retailers (ALMR), warned that the new Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt might be less supportive of the partnership approach under the Responsibility Deal than his predecessor Andrew Lansley.
And despite its change of approach, she warned that buy-one-get-one-free deals on food might soon be in the Government’s sights.
Speaking at the ALMR autumn debate, Nicholls said she recently attended a steering group meeting of the Responsibility Deal, which asks operators to make pledges such as calorie labelling and reducing salt in food.
“We are not so much in the target as we were before the summer, before we did a whole lot of work with them,” she said.
“The Government was talking about out of home eating being the next big area and it was shocking that pub companies and casual dining chains were not doing enough to deliver health eating.
“They’ve now taken a step back and said they agree with us that they should look at the manufactures and producers first, and only when the manufacturers and producers can deliver will they look at out-of-home eating.
“It’s a huge step forward.”
She said the Government had accepted that calorie labelling is “actually quite difficult” for a restaurant.
“They are taking the pressure off us, and they are taking the pressure off calorie labelling and more into healthy eating and calorie reduction, which is a far easier target for us to get to grips with.”
However, she said that the Department of Health was keen to look at the whether deals such as buy-one-get-one-free on meals are linked to obesity.
Worryingly, Nicholls said it’s “not quite clear what will happen to the Responsibility Deal now we’ve lost Andrew Lansley”.
She said Lansley was “ very keen on partnership, working with trade”. In contrast, Hunt, who became Health Secretary last month, may be “more keen to take a step back from that kind of partnership approach”.
“I can’t see, after what he’s been through, Jeremy Hunt being keen to get into bed with big business and deliver change and government policy through a partnership approach with big business.”
Nicholls criticised the lack of incentives for businesses under the Responsibility Deal.
“Businesses that have engaged with the Responsibility Deal have found that the carrot hasn’t materialised. There’s nothing to be gained from working with the Government on this one because they are still giving us legislation top down as we’ve seen.”
