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10-Year Health Plan: will it shift the dial on preventing ill health?

In A healthy life

8 Jul 2025

Online

This event took place on Tuesday 8 July. You can watch the recording below.

Event recording

The opinions expressed in this event recording are those of the speaker. For more information, view our full statement on external contributors.

The UK Government’s 10-Year Health Plan set out how the Government aims to build an NHS fit for the future. One of the three big shifts the government wants to achieve is focusing on preventing sickness, not just treating it.

As part of the plan, the Health Secretary announced a new healthy food standard, which aims to get healthier food on our shelves and into our diets. The policy is based on Nesta’s health targets for supermarkets proposal. It will require businesses including supermarkets to sell healthier food, by making lots of small changes over time. Nesta modelling suggests that the policy could cut obesity by a fifth. If we get this right, this policy could open a new chapter in efforts to improve our health.

On Tuesday 8 July we heard from Hugo Harper, Director of Nesta’s healthy life mission and fellow panellists David Buck, Senior Fellow at the King’s Fund, Jim Dickson, Labour MP for Dartford, and Katharine Jenner, Director of the Obesity Health Alliance. Lauren Bowes Byatt, Nesta’s Deputy Director for Health Policy chaired the panel.

The panellists discussed how the 10-Year Health Plan could help put a spotlight on prevention, and what the measures within it might deliver. They explored whether it does enough to meaningfully shift focus onto prevention in a way that will reduce ill health, and save the NHS money, how the healthy food standard could work, and what is needed to ensure its success.

Lauren Bowes Byatt

She/her

Lauren is the Deputy Director of the healthy life mission. Her team is focused on working across public, private and non-profit sectors to deliver innovative solutions that tackle obesity and loneliness in the UK. Lauren joined Nesta from the Cabinet Office where she worked as Head of Planning and Coordination in the COVID-19 task force. She was responsible for supporting Number 10 decision-making on COVID-19 and organising key COVID-19 policy moments, from implementing national lockdowns to delivering the government's Spring Summer and Autumn Winter roadmaps. During this time, she was also deployed to NHS England's COVID-19 vaccination programme where she helped on delivery of the 'Get Boosted Now' campaign. Prior to this, Lauren held strategy roles within the Home Office and Cabinet Office. At the Cabinet Office, she oversaw the creation and delivery of the government's Loneliness strategy. Lauren joined the Civil Service as a social researcher after working as an analyst in the private sector in both market research and publishing industries. Outside of work Lauren enjoys yoga, visiting art galleries and eating out. She is also a trustee for the charity Hestia.

Hugo Harper

He/him

Hugo leads Nesta's healthy life mission. Hugo joins Nesta from the Behavioural Insights Team where he led their work on health and education, helping them grow from a small team in the Cabinet Office, to a global organisation of more than 250 people. He has overseen projects with a wide range of partners including No10, government departments, large charities and private sector players. He has worked on all aspects of public health, from antimicrobial resistance to workplace well-being. Within public health, obesity is his specialist interest area. Since 2013 he has been a key advisor in the area and has produced multiple field trials, lab studies, impact models and policy recommendations. During the pandemic, Hugo spent almost all his time on the Covid-19 response and sat on the SAGE sub-group SPI-B. Outside of the UK, he has spent time in both Singapore and Australia working on developing the adoption of a more behavioural approach to public health policy implementation. Hugo holds an MSc, with distinction, in Behavioural and Economic Sciences from the University of Warwick, as well as a BA in Psychology and Physiology from Oxford University.

Katharine Jenner

She/her

Registered Nutritionist Katharine Jenner joined as Director the OHA in 2022 after fifteen years working with Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (CASSH). Katharine led the setting up of Action on Sugar, supported the implementation of the salt, sugar and calorie reduction policies as well as other key policies such as the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and Front of Pack Labelling, and is a Trustee of Sustain and Chair of the Children’s Food Campaign.

Jim Dickson

He/him

Jim Dickson is the Labour Member of Parliament for Dartford. He was elected for the first time in July 2024. Jim was previously a councillor in Lambeth serving both as leader and cabinet member for Health. Jim is a long-term advocate for better public health and for central and local government action to prevent ill health for all our population.

David Buck

He/him

David works in the policy team at the King's Fund. Before joining the Fund, David worked at the Department of Health as deputy director for health inequalities. He managed the Labour government's PSA target on health inequalities and the independent Marmot Review of inequalities in health. While in the Department he worked on many policy areas – including on diabetes, long-term conditions, dental health, waiting times, the pharmaceutical industry, childhood obesity and choice and competition – as an economic and strategy adviser. He has also worked at Guy's Hospital, King’s College London and the Centre for Health Economics in York where his focus was on the economics of public health and behaviours and incentives.

10-Year Health Plan: will it shift the dial on preventing ill health?

About Nesta

10-Year Health Plan: will it shift the dial on preventing ill health?

This event took place on Tuesday 8 July. You can watch the recording below.