"If government is saying the regulations are important, they should be putting in funding to back it up."- An in-depth analysis of local authority officers' perspectives of the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021.

IF 7 1区 医学 Q1 MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL
Preeti Dhuria, Sarah Muir, Sarah Jenner, Emma Roe, Wendy Lawrence, Janis Baird, Christina Vogel
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: As part of the UK government's obesity strategy, the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 were implemented in October 2022 to restrict the prominent placement of products high in fat, sugar, or salt (HFSS) in most retail settings. Local authority (LA) officers have been tasked with enforcement of these regulations. This qualitative study examined the perspectives of LA officers including, trading standards, environmental health, and public health officers to understand enforcement approaches and requirements to optimise business compliance with the regulations.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted via MS Teams with a purposive sample of LA officers across England. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Results: The 22 participants comprised 13 officers from Trading Standards, six from Environmental Health, and three from Public Health teams. The key messages include the following: (i) the regulations are complex and do not align with existing enforcement approaches, (ii) officers' professional background will result in variable enforcement practices, and (iii) compliance assessment is an arduous task. LAs are facing resource and workforce constraints and have to prioritise regulations addressing high health risks (e.g., allergens). Therefore, officers will mostly apply a light touch approach to enforcement, raising awareness and engaging with businesses rather than issuing notices. To develop a consistent enforcement approach across LAs, officers asked for (i) further leadership from central government in the form of funding, training, and tools to determine in-scope businesses and products, (ii) cross-departmental collaboration to raise the regulations' priority at local and regional levels, and (iii) greater consumer demand for healthier retail environments.

Conclusion: It is crucial to address both structural challenges such as resource allocation, workforce, and prioritisation issues as well as the inherent complexity of the regulations to strengthen enforcement efforts. Our findings highlight the necessity of supporting enforcement activities at national and regional government levels to avoid potential false conclusions about ineffectiveness of regulations.

"如果政府说这些法规很重要,他们就应该投入资金来支持。"--深入分析地方政府官员对《2021 年食品(推广和投放)(英格兰)法规》的看法。
背景:作为英国政府肥胖症战略的一部分,《2021 年食品(促销和摆放)(英格兰)条例》于 2022 年 10 月实施,以限制在大多数零售场所的显眼位置摆放高脂肪、高糖或高盐(HFSS)产品。地方当局(LA)官员负责执行这些法规。本定性研究探讨了地方当局官员(包括贸易标准、环境卫生和公共卫生官员)的观点,以了解执法方法和要求,从而优化企业对法规的遵守情况:方法:通过 MS Teams 对英格兰各地的地方政府官员进行了半结构化访谈。采用归纳式主题分析法对数据进行分析:22 名参与者包括 13 名贸易标准局官员、6 名环境卫生官员和 3 名公共卫生团队官员。主要信息如下(i) 法规很复杂,与现有的执法方法不一致,(ii) 官员的专业背景会导致执法方法的不同,(iii) 合规评估是一项艰巨的任务。法 律 援 助 機 構 面 對 資 源 和 人 手 限 制 , 必 須 優 先 處 理 對 健 康 構 成 高 風 險 的 規 例 ( 例 如 過 敏 原 ) 。因此,执法人员大多会采用轻触式的执法方法,提高企业的意识,与企业接触,而不是发出通知。为了在各洛杉矶制定一致的执法方法,执法人员要求:(i)中央政府进一步发挥领导作用,提供资金、培训和工具,以确定范围内的企业和产品;(ii)跨部门合作,提高法规在地方和区域层面的优先级;(iii)消费者对更健康零售环境的更大需求:解决资源分配、劳动力和优先次序问题等结构性挑战以及法规固有的复杂性对于加强执法工作至关重要。我们的研究结果突出表明,有必要支持国家和地区政府层面的执法活动,以避免得出法规无效的错误结论。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
BMC Medicine
BMC Medicine 医学-医学:内科
CiteScore
13.10
自引率
1.10%
发文量
435
审稿时长
4-8 weeks
期刊介绍: BMC Medicine is an open access, transparent peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is the flagship journal of the BMC series and publishes outstanding and influential research in various areas including clinical practice, translational medicine, medical and health advances, public health, global health, policy, and general topics of interest to the biomedical and sociomedical professional communities. In addition to research articles, the journal also publishes stimulating debates, reviews, unique forum articles, and concise tutorials. All articles published in BMC Medicine are included in various databases such as Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS, CAS, Citebase, Current contents, DOAJ, Embase, MEDLINE, PubMed, Science Citation Index Expanded, OAIster, SCImago, Scopus, SOCOLAR, and Zetoc.
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