The Queen’s Speech given on 11th May lists a number of new government bills to support pandemic recovery whilst expanding established activities on infrastructure, skills, equity and economic development.
A detailed briefing note is available. Some of the planned bills have potential to impact UK food and grocery businesses, including the following:
Healthy living
- Health and Care Bill – This will include measures to ban advertising for specified high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) foods before 21.00h on TV and at all times online.
- Calorie labelling - Secondary legislation will require foodservice businesses employing more than 250 people to mark products with calorie information.
- Promotions – The government confirms that plans to restrict promotion of HFSS foods will be given effect from April 2022.
Access to training and education
- Skills and Post 16 Education Bill – This bill will give employers a greater role in developing technical training. It will provide funding for loans to help adults retrain or up-skill at any point in their careers.
Environment
- Environment Bill – This bill will set legally binding environmental performance for government. It will establish an Office for Environmental Protection, address plastic use and raise standards for recycling.
- Climate Change – The government confirms its commitment to achieving “Net Zero” greenhouse gas emission by 2050.
New legislation on animal welfare
Several Bills will be introduced to give effect to the government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare. These are intended to help the UK take a global lead on animal welfare but there may be some impact on UK farming interests.
- Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill – Vertebrate animals will be recognized as sentient and a specialist Animal Sentience Committee will ensure that this is accounted for when developing policy. (Note: this has been proposed before, but was rejected by MPs).
- Kept Animals Bill – Domestic animals of all kinds (pets, sporting animals and livestock) will be given greater legal protections. Export of live animals for fattening and export will be banned. Use of battery cages for laying hens, veal crates and sow stalls will also be prohibited.