All the new laws Boris Johnson's government plans for the next 12 months revealed in Queen's Speech
| Published date | 11 May 2021 |
And after the UK's high levels of obesity contributed to the Covid death toll, the Government is also to launch a drive to help us get fit and lose weight, including a ban on junk food advertising online.
But those are only some of the many new laws and policies included in today's Queen's Speech, when the Government sets out its plans for the year ahead. Others include tougher animal welfare rules, longer sentences for serious offenders and plans to build more homes.
Helping the NHS
A new Health and Social Care Bill will bring together the NHS and social care to create an integrated system across the country.
And there will be reforms of how the NHS is managed, designed to sweep away the bureaucracy created by the last set of reforms -which were themselves introduced by a Conservative-led government between 2010 and 2015.
A new "Office for Health Promotion" will be created to help us all get fit, by eating better and taking more exercise.
Measures include banning junk food adverts on TV before 9pm, and online enitrely.
Larger restaurants and similar businesses which sell food will be required to show the calorie content of their products on menus.
It will be easier for obese people to obtain help such as access to treatments through their GP.
An extra £8 billion has been provided to help the NHS deal with a massive waiting list created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The health service has focused on people suffering the effects of coronavirus, but it's meant 4.7 million people in England are now waiting for care -with more than 380,000 waiting over a year for treatment.
And the Government fears there are even more people out there who need medical help, but have simply stayed away from their GP or hospital in an attempt to help the NHS.
Ministers are promising a major "NHS catch-up and recovery plan".
Changing the way we pay for social care
The Government says it will change the way we pay for social care, so that elderly people are no longer forced to hand over their life savings, including selling their homes.
But the measures set out today don't include any detail about how it plans to do this.
Ministers say the problem is that some people face very high costs and others don't, which makes it very difficult for anyone to plan ahead. They want to create a system where the risks are shared across society, but have not said...
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