Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (England) Regulations 2007

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, for introducing this important debate on the merits of the new Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (England) Regulations 2007, laid before the House in December, and I thank other noble Lords for their contributions. It is with trepidation that I begin these remarks, given the reputation and expertise that that noble Baroness brings to your Lordships’ House and I pay tribute to her fantastic work in championing health issues. I agree with the eloquent points the noble Baroness and other noble Lords made about the importance of supporting, protecting and promoting breastfeeding in the interests of giving all infants the best start in life. The Government take infant health extremely seriously and are determined to act to promote and protect breastfeeding in the interests of giving all infants the best start in life and to make sure that mothers are in the best position possible to make informed decisions about feeding choices for their babies. The Government’s central policy—and their challenge, as other noble Lords outlined—is to encourage, protect and support breastfeeding. We have achieved an increase in breastfeeding initiation rates in the UK from 69 per cent in 2000 to 76 per cent in 2005—but there is a great deal more to do. The Government are continuing to create a supportive environment for breastfeeding, through ongoing work and campaigns. I am sure that noble Lords will be pleased to learn that the National Breastfeeding Helpline was launched on 15 February. The Government are working in partnership with concerned organisations and the helpline to give new mums practical support and encourage them to breastfeed longer. Many noble Lords made that point. All calls to the line in the UK will be charged at local rates and we hope that this will be of particular benefit to mothers from disadvantaged groups and young mothers who will be able to access specialist advice at the time of need and help them to continue breastfeeding. Equally, the Government have a duty to ensure that adequate controls are in place to protect bottle-fed babies and mothers who do not choose to or are unable to breastfeed. For those mothers, the Government want to ensure that they receive the best advice that they can so that they can choose what is best for their babies without other people interfering in those decisions or causing confusion. That is why the Government have put in place stricter controls on the promotion, labelling and composition of infant formula and follow-on formula. The Government’s priority is to ensure that infant and follow-on formulas are clearly labelled so that parents and carers who wish to use these products can do so in the correct way. This is what these regulations set out to do and is why they are important and consequently the subject of much interest and debate. This code is for the benefit of all mothers. It is there to protect bottle-feeding mothers as well as breastfeeding mothers, because it is about the provision of wholly independent and evidence-based information. The Government support the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent amending World Health Assembly resolutions. Where the code places responsibility on governments, we have acted to enshrine in our policies the principles it sets out. The World Health Organisation’s recommendations are very wide-ranging in their scope, with some relating to detailed labelling provisions, others to the functioning of the healthcare system and others still to the corporate responsibilities of manufacturers. The regulations address the recommendations relating to the composition, labelling and advertising of formula, and implement EU directive 2006/141/EC on infant formula and follow-on formula. This new directive was informed, in part, by the WHO recommendations and provides increased consumer protection when compared to the previous legislation. In addition, the Government in 2003 implemented the WHO guidance to recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, with continued breastfeeding alongside the introduction of complementary feeding, and will be adopting the new WHO growth standards as recommended by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. I recognise that several NGOs, including the Baby Milk Action Group, the National Childbirth Trust, the Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition and others are calling for further regulations to ban all advertising and promotion of breastmilk substitutes, including follow-on formula, and want the Government to implement the entire WHO code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes. The Government are determined to take tough action to stamp out marketing, promotion and advertising practices which undermine breastfeeding directly and indirectly. Indeed, this is evidenced by the Government’s Choosing Health White Paper, which made a commitment to review the relevant provisions of the Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations 1995, with a view further to restrict the promotion of infant formula. I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, will accept this reassurance. I assure noble Lords that the Government’s new controls are as tight as possible within the constraints of the EU law and have been specifically drafted to address loopholes in the 1995 regulations which allow manufacturers to market and promote their products in ways that do not enable UK consumers clearly to differentiate between infant formula and follow-on formula when purchasing products, and which bypasses restrictions on advertising of infant formula by labelling and advertising follow-on formula in such a way that it is often difficult to distinguish the practice from advertising for infant formula. This is unacceptable and the Government are determined to take tough action to remove this confusion. In this way the new directive and regulations provide for increased consumer protection compared with the previous infant formula legislation. The key changes include: updated rules on the composition of all types of formula; tighter rules on the labelling of all types of formula; tighter restrictions relating to the marketing and promotion of infant formula; requirements for companies to label, present and advertise infant formula and follow-on formula in such a way as to avoid confusion between them in the mind of the consumer; a requirement for companies to make clear on the product packaging that follow-on formula should be used only by infants from six months of age; restrictions on the number of health and nutrition claims that can be used on infant formula; and the introduction of national notification requirements, which allow European Union countries to monitor the marketing of new infant formula more effectively. The Government will also be introducing robust guidance for industry and enforcement authorities on how correctly to apply the new law. The guidance will make it very clear that advertising practice for follow-on formula must change and formula for older babies must be clearly labelled and advertised such that it is clearly distinguishable from infant formula. This is necessary because advertisements for follow-on formula, which may include presentation of the packaged and labelled product, have the potential to be seen as adverts for infant formula, a practice which is specifically prohibited so as not to undermine government advice that babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months. These tough new measures will give effect to the principles and aims of the WHO code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes and will protect breastfeeding by substantially restricting advertising, requiring proper labelling and prohibiting the donation of any informational or educational material by formula manufacturers unless it has been specifically authorised by the Government, prohibiting the advertising of infant formula to the public, and prohibiting any follow-on formula advertising which promotes infant formula. I hope that this will go some way to meeting the noble Baroness’s points. In addition, the Government have given a further and key commitment to provide an independently chaired review of the new controls. That point has been recognised by other noble Lords. If after time it is found that the new arrangements are not working effectively or delivering the necessary level of protection for babies, because the arrangements have been circumvented or because new methods of promotion emerge, the Government will respond proportionately and consider taking further legislative action.