The Public Health Responsibility Deal: Brokering a deal for public health, but on whose terms?

Abstract

This is the unspecified version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link:http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/2878/ Link to published version: http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.healthpol.2013.11.002 Copyright and reuse: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.Page 1 But despite widespread recognition of the scale of the problem, in no country has it been reversed through public health measures [4]. Acknowledgement of this situation has driven a fundamental change in the policy approach to obesity. Interventions that focus on individual choice are being complemented by policy that takes an ecological approach, recognising that individuals are ultimately responsible for their health behaviours but that choices are made in the context of a larger, 'obesogenic' environment [4,5].To reengineer the environment to prevent obesity requires a societal approach involving governments, civil society and the private sector [4,6]. Some form of engagement with the food industry is necessary due to its influence over the food environment. The World Health Organisation (WHO), for example, has promoted a multisectoral, 'whole of society' approach to obesity prevention, calling on civil society and the private sector, including the food industry, to 'partner' with governments on the implementation of public health measures [6,7].This article investigates the potential impact of private sector engagement in public health by looking at a working example; the Public Health Responsibility Deal in England and the food industry's appropriation of a responsibility for public health through corporate social responsibility activities [16]. Governments have adopted neoliberal policies that have promoted pro-business values, expanded the role for public-private partnerships, and delegated some responsibility for public health to the private and nonprofit sectors [17,18,19].In an environment conducive to private sector involvement, the food industry has moved proactively to pledge actions to improve the health profile of its products [4]. Coalitions of large multinational food and drink businesses have pledged to reformulate their products and to market them responsibly [20,21,22]. Largely business-led and self-regulated, such voluntary initiatives have met with scepticism from the public health communit...

Workplace foodservice; perception of quality and trust

“…Therefore, interventions that focus on the individual can be complemented with an environmental approach such as `nudging' in order to demonstrate understanding that although individuals are responsible for their actions, choices are made in the context of the larger environment (Panjwani and Caraher 2014).…”

Response to Petticrew and colleagues

“…We thank Pettigrew and colleagues for their letter in response to our article 1 . They are the team of academic researchers that has been funded to undertake an evaluation of the Responsibility Deal (RD).…”

Playing the policy game: a review of the barriers to and enablers of nutrition policy change

“…Badging or developing a formal relationship with a nutrition organisation was seen as a third-party endorsement for a company and gave it legitimacy to intervene in the regulatory environment (32,40) . Industrygovernment partnerships allowed industry to shape a supportive regulatory environment that did not impact on corporate profits (32,35,38,40,41) . A more concerning aspect of this was where public policy was not simply influenced but actually co-created and delivered by the private sector, for example the 'Change4Life' campaign in the UK (41)(42)(43) .…”