Fit for the Future: The 10 Year Health Plan for England

The plan rightly focuses on prevention but, at the same time, uncritically promotes ‘public private partnerships’ to support the Government’s ‘growth’  and ‘innovation’ agenda and uncritically promotes Danone and other companies..

The Plan makes no reference to the safeguards in WHO’s  2024 Guidance for Member States  that calls for “… transparent and informed decision-making processes … proper due diligence and to identify and manage risks enhance their decision-making capacity and unlock untapped opportunities while safeguarding public health from risks, including undue influence and conflicts of interest …measures to identify, avoid and manage or mitigate conflicts of interest and prevent the interference of private sector entities in public health policy development…

In January, together with our partners we exposed the  Tesco/ Danone High Street scheme where Danone was paying midwives to provide infant feeding advice. It reminded us of  Nestlé’s notorious “Milk Nurses” of the 1970s. Thankfully the exposure helped stop it going forward.

Some of  the uncritical references to corporate strategies.

“…In developing this plan, we have heard from: businesses who want to partner on innovation .

….This Coalition is not waiting for Government. Danone(119) has committed to never introducing a high fat, salt or sugar product targeted at children.”   

…….”Our new operating model, will support the growth of the industries working with us on our health mission. Failure of the NHS to partner, and any sign of a ‘not invented here’ mentality, will not be tolerated…..The new centre will ensure relationships with industry are genuine partnerships, where too often they have been transactional. We will expand the role life sciences and technology companies can play a role in service delivery.”

 

• The Plan has no references for the need for independent scrutiny of corporate promises  and the risk of harm they might pose to public health – harm that will be much greater that any risk taken by a company.
• No reference to the need to protect the policy-setting and planning from commercial  influence – influence that can derail and undermine everything.
• No reference to accountability mechanisms, independent monitoring or assessments, proportionate penalties for corporate interference, inappropriate use of engagements, bribery etc etc

• Partnerships are arrangements that  by definition lead to ‘shared governance’ to achieve ‘shared goals.’ Shared decision-making is a unifying feature of many partnerships and can lead to governments becoming mere facilitators rather than primary actor. ‘Partnership’ terminology  blurs the identities and responsibilities of rights holders and duty bearers. This helps corporations and their front organisations assume decision-making positions in public health when they have no democratic accountability.

• Parliamentary Question on Danone and the 10 year plan

  Infant Foods: Sugar. Show full question

  Question for Department of Health and Social Care by Anneliese Dodds, Labour, Oxford East (UIN 70903, tabled on 29 August 2025). “To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 58 of the policy paper entitled 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, published on 3 July 2025, whether Danone’s commitment never to introduce a high sugar product to children refers to the recommended levels of sugar for (a) children and (b) adults; and whether this applies to Alpro growing up milks.”

  Answered by Ashley Dalton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention (Labour, West Lancashire). 4 September 2025

  “The 10-Year Health Plan sets out decisive action to tackle the obesity crisis and ease the strain on the NHS, as well as to create the healthiest generation of children ever. It details a number of actions that the Government will take, including plans to introduce mandatory healthy food sales reporting for all large companies in the food sector, fulfilling commitments to restrict junk food advertising targeted at children, banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s and updating the UK Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) 2004/05.  Danone’s published commitment is to never produce a product for children that is high in saturated fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) as defined by the UK Government’s current policy and legislation as a less healthy product.  The Government’s policy and legislation being referred to uses the UK NPM 2004/05 to determine whether a product is classed as being HFSS or non-HFSS. The 2004/05 NPM does not assess individual nutrients in isolation (for example sugar), but it considers the balance of the ingredients and the nutrient composition of foods. The scoring system that underpins the UK NPM 2004/05 was based on dietary reference values for children aged 11 to 16 years’ old, but it was subsequently found to be equally applicable to foods and drinks consumed by those over the age of 5 years. The nutritional needs of infants and young children under 5 years differ from those of older children and adults. Therefore. the UK NPM 2004/05 is not currently regarded as suitable to assess commercially available food and drink products that are to be consumed only by children under 5 years, including Alpro Growing Up Milks.

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  This article on Plant Based drinks  exposes the hollowness of Danone’s promises and its relentless and aggressive promotion of the totally unnecessary and harmful Growing up Milks, products that “are the main source of free sugars among those 12- to 18-month-old children who consume them, accounting for half of their total free sugars intake”.  Danone’s Alpro GUM are currently the highest sugar products available for families to buy their young children with quantities that push young children well over their DHSC recommended free sugars intake. The products state ‘low in sugar’ on the pack, because by an adult metric, and by DHSC definition of free sugars, they are not high in sugars. But for the targeted age-group the sugar level is high.

• Plant-Based and Dairy-Free Drinks: An Emerging Health Hazard for Young Children.  Rachel M Childs, Robert J. Boyle | Victoria L. Sibson.   Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2024; 54:852–854 https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.14589

  “Drinks for young children marketed as ‘growing up’ and ‘toddler’ milks and drinks”. First Steps Nutrition:

  Supporting member states in reaching informed decision-making on engaging with private : sector entities for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases: a practical tool.  WHO 2024.

  IBFAN comments on the WHO guide

• Other publications on Conflicts of interest in the Future Healthcare Journal:

  Commercial Determinants and Conflicts of Interest in Public Health and Policy – The urgent need to end sponsorship of healthcare professional associations by the commercial milk formula industry

  Tony Waterston ^a, Adriano Cattaneo ^b, Nicole Bando ^c, Jamie Errico ^d, Robert Boyle ^e, Sarah Brennan ^f, Lori Lake ^g, Melissa Mialon ^h, Laurence Grummer-Strawn ⁱ, HASFF (Health Advocates for Sponsorship- Free Feeding)

  Commercial Determinants and Conflicts of Interest in Public Health and PolicyCommercial influences on infant and young child feeding

  Bartosz Helfer^{a b}, Katarzyna Henke-Ciążyńska^a, Robert J. Boyle^c

  If commercial incentives are the engine, then conflicts of interest are the lubricant.Christoffer van Tulleken

   

   

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