Public health responsibility deal

The 'public health responsibility deal' was launched in March 2011 and was intended to create a partnership between government, health organisations and business, with the aim of improving population health.

The responsibility deal was made up of five networks: 

• food
• alcohol
• physical activity
• health at work
• behaviour change.

Each network made a set of pledges, which members signed up to. These could be targets such as 'We will provide calorie information for food and non-alcoholic drinks for our customers in out of home settings from 1 September 2011', which was included in the food network.

While this was a flagship public health initiative for the government, it was met with criticism from a number of public health bodies. Six bodies, including Alcohol Concern, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians, publicly withdrew their support from the Alcohol Network just before the launch, on the basis that the government had prioritised industry over public health.