Head of Dietary Surveys and Reformulation and Head of Nutrition Advice and Translation

Ministers have a keen interest in further action to support healthier diets and curb obesity. This is dynamic and fast paced policy area requiring a strong scientific basis. The Head of Dietary Surveys and Reformulation will oversee two teams: the Dietary Surveys and Food Composition team, and the Reformulation and Healthier sales Monitoring team. These teams provide much of the dietary data that informs the diet and obesity policy, and related decisions of the Health Mission.The Dietary Surveys and Food Composition team manages the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), the Infant Feeding Survey (IFS) and other dietary and food data collection. The team are also responsible for keeping the food composition database up to date. These surveys are essential tools for generating evidence to support public health nutrition policy development and monitor its impact.The NDNS is a rolling programme. NDNS Year 16 fieldwork started in 2024, and the team will simultaneously be reporting on years 12 to 15. Fieldwork for the current IFS is in its final stages, with reporting planned in 2025. This IFS is a follow on from an earlier series undertaken every five years until 2010 and will provide information on breastfeeding and the use of foods and drinks other than breastmilk in infancy, complementing the information collected in the NDNS.The reformulation team are responsible for the voluntary reformulation programme which requires all sections of industry to reduce levels of salt, sugar and calories in everyday food and drink, including commercial baby food and drink. OHID publishes reports on industry progress to achieve these reformulation targets using a third party, commercial data set. The team are also responsible for collecting intelligence on food industry product improvements. The other side of the team have led the Food Data Transparency Partnership working with stakeholders on the feasibility of individual businesses reporting on the healthiness of their sales, thus moving accountability from a sector level to a business level. The post holder is responsible for overseeing these significant programmes, teams, and budgets, engaging internally and externally with key stakeholders. The post holder is expected to use their leadership skills and experience to bring together these different data sets, covering consumption and purchasing, to improve our understanding of societal and industry behaviours and norms, how they are shifting and what influences them. The Head of Nutrition Advice and Translation will oversee two teams: the Nutrition Advice team, and the Nutrient Profiling and Labelling team. Both teams actively advise DHSC and other government departments (OGD) policy teams in the application of nutrition scientific evidence to policy. The Nutrition Advice team is responsible for the Eatwell Guide which encapsulates the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) dietary recommendations, NHS.UK messaging, the 5 a day logo and nutrition content of marketing campaigns. They also support nutrition policy development across government, for example with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Department for Education (DfE), HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), Ministry of Defence (MoD) and NHS England (NHSE), including catering guidance and food standards.The Nutrient Profiling and Labelling team are responsible for the Nutrient Profile Model (NPM), the algorithm which defines if a product is healthier or less healthy according to the balance of negative and positive nutrients in a product, and the front of pack labelling Multiple Traffic Light (MTL) thresholds. The team is responsible for managing any updates to the NPM or MTL thresholds, commissioning the necessary research, expert advice, consulting with relevant stakeholders, publishing the findings and associated guidance. The post holder is responsible for overseeing these significant tools and products and engaging internally and externally with key stakeholders. The post holder is expected to use their leadership, management skills and experience to ensure the best and most robust scientific nutrition advice informs policy decisions, and that processes are transparent given this is a litigious policy area. All the Grade 6 positions in this division play a key role in research and evidence generation. They are expected to lead in the identification of research gaps, and the development and oversight of research proposals, working closely with the public health policy and analytical teams.