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Written Evidence submitted by The Local Government Association (LGA)(FS0066) |
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Written Evidence submitted by The Local Government Association (LGA)(FS0066) |
1.1. The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We are a politically led, cross-party membership organisation, representing councils from England and Wales.
1.2. Our role is to support, promote and improve local government, and raise national awareness of the work of councils. Our ultimate ambition is to support councils to deliver local solutions to national problems.
2.1 Food security is dependent on a wide range of complex and interconnected factors, however there are clear risks to the supply of food into the future that are only projected to increase. In particular, the growth in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events brought about by climate change poses significant risks to food production, with droughts, floods, and environmental degradation around the world having an impact. To secure long-term food security, we urgently need to accelerate the rate of climate adaption action.
3.1 As place leaders delivering a wide range of services, local government is central to the effort of mitigating and adapting to climate change through its own activities, and through leadership and support to local businesses, partners, and people. Local government should therefore be a central partner, working with Government, to develop the National Adaption Programme, to ensure councils have the capacity, resources and support to deliver on these plans and close the local gap between the rate of climate change and our communities’ resilience to it.
3.2 Biodiversity loss, including the loss of ecosystem services such as healthy soil, pollination, tree cover and seed diversity, in addition to issues such as increasing water scarcity and nutrient neutrality issues, all pose threats to agricultural production and food security. We welcome the Government’s commitments to nature recovery by 2030 and it is vital that these ambitions are delivered upon with councils, who can contribute through planning, land-use management and local nature recovery strategies.
3.3 As the cost of food continues to rise and other inflationary pressures restrict household budgets, we are seeing access to healthy and nutritious foods becoming increasingly out of reach for a greater proportion of the population. Without effective and meaningful intervention, this will cause hunger, drive health inequalities, and inhibit the ability of those on a lower-income to afford other essentials such as fuel, housing costs, council tax, and transport - all of which are basic necessities that individuals and communities need to live well.
3.4 As the cost of food continues to rise and other inflationary pressures restrict household budgets, we are seeing access to healthy and nutritious foods becoming increasingly out of reach for a greater proportion of the population. Without effective and meaningful intervention, this will cause hunger, drive health inequalities, and inhibit the ability of those on a lower-income to afford other essentials such as fuel, housing costs, council tax, and transport - all of which are basic necessities that individuals and communities need to live well.
4.1 The rising cost of living will drive an increase in the numbers of people facing food insecurity and disproportionately impact lower-income households, who spend a greater proportion of their income on food, energy and other essentials. Poor health has long been associated with poverty, and rising food prices threaten to worsen existing health inequalities in both children and adults.
4.2 The Government’s Food Strategy represents a missed opportunity to tackle the underlying causes of a variety of issues, many of which will continue to be exacerbated by the growing cost of living crisis. Many of the key recommendations and findings of Henry Dimbleby’s independent report have not been addressed and there are very few commitments within the strategy that will overcome people’s economic barriers to healthy and nutritious food. Unless the government takes urgent action to extend the ambitions of the strategy to tackle households’ food insecurity, health inequalities will widen and its ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 will be missed.
4.3 There are a number of measures that the Government should introduce to tackle rising food insecurity and expand access to access healthy and nutritious food. As income presents as the most significant barrier to an adequate diet, providing a fair, accessible and sufficient mainstream benefits system, which provides financial stability for low-income households and reflects true living costs, must be the fundamental intervention to address some of the key nutritional challenges faced by financially disadvantaged households. In addition, councils also need to be adequately resourced to provide targeted and effective crisis support, alongside services which increase opportunity and lift people out of poverty for good.
4.4 There are also specific measures that Government should implement to address child food poverty. The LGA is calling on Government to expand the eligibility criteria for Free School Meals (FSM) and Healthy Start Vouchers to encompass all children and young people of school age who are in food poverty, and introduce automatic enrolment onto these schemes to expand uptake.
4.5 Within the Government’s proposed land strategy, it would be helpful for Government to address some of the current challenges we face in tackling excess levels of nutrients in some of our water systems, as part of a whole-system approach to land management, food production and environmental protection. The LGA has set up a policy inquiry on the complex issues of nutrient and water neutrality and we would be happy to share the findings with the Committee in due course.
3.1 Food security is dependent on a wide range of complex and interconnected factors, however there are clear risks to the supply of food into the future that are only projected to increase. The Government’s Food Security Report 2021 identified climate change and biodiversity loss as the biggest threats to food production in future. The growth in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events brought about by climate change poses significant risks to food production, with droughts, floods, and environmental degradation around the world having an impact. As well as mitigation and adaption measures, farming in harmony with nature should be encouraged.
3.2 The latest Climate Change Risk Assessment identifies the critical importance of environmental ecosystems to domestic food security as a priority risk area. Alarmingly, the latest Climate Change Committee report found that the gap between the level of risk we face and the level of adaptation underway has widened. Adaptation action has failed to keep pace with the worsening reality of climate risk.
3.3 Food security is dependent on a wide range of complex and interconnected factors, however there are clear risks to the supply of food into the future that are only projected to increase. The Government’s Food Security Report 2021 identified climate change and biodiversity loss as the biggest threats to food production in future. The growth in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events brought about by climate change poses significant risks to food production, with droughts, floods, and environmental degradation around the world having an impact. As well as mitigation and adaption measures, farming in harmony with nature should be encouraged.
3.4 The Government is now drafting its third National Adaptation Programme (NAP) to respond to the updated Climate Change Risk Assessment. The new NAP will set out the actions the Government is, and will be, taking to address the risks and opportunities posed by a changing climate. It will be published next summer and we hope that it will mark a step change in the adaptation effort.
3.5 As place leaders delivering a wide range of services, local government is central to the effort of mitigating and adapting to climate change through its own activities, and through leadership and support to local businesses, partners, and people. Councils can leverage their influence as community leaders and conveners, with responsibilities across housing, planning, transport, infrastructure, environment, environmental health, public health, welfare, emergency response, community safety and more.
3.6 Local government should be a central partner in developing the NAP to prepare and adapt our services, communities and businesses to a greater level of food insecurity. We want to work with the Government to deliver on these plans, ensuring councils have the capacity, resources and advice and support to close the local gap between the rate of climate change and our communities’ resilience to it.
3.7 Biodiversity loss, including the loss of ecosystem services such as healthy soil, pollination, tree cover and seed diversity, in addition to issues such as increasing water scarcity and nutrient neutrality issues, all pose threats to agricultural production and food security. We welcome the Government’s commitments to nature recovery by 2030 and it is vital that these ambitions are delivered upon with councils, who can contribute through planning, land-use management and local nature recovery strategies.
4 How are the rising cost of living and increasing food prices affecting access to healthy and nutritious food?
4.1 As the cost of food continues to rise and other inflationary pressures restrict household budgets, we are seeing access to healthy and nutritious foods becoming increasingly out of reach for a greater proportion of the population. Without effective and meaningful intervention, this will cause hunger, drive health inequalities, and inhibit the ability of those on a lower-income to afford other essentials such as fuel, housing costs, council tax, and transport - all of which are basic necessities that individuals and communities need to live well.
4.2 Everyone should have access to healthy and affordable food regardless of where they live and their income. For lower-income households, access to nutritious food has been a longstanding challenge. It is estimated that healthier foods are nearly three times more expensive per calorie than unhealthy foods. In 2021 research conducted by the Food Foundation found that the poorest fifth of the country’s households would need to spend 40 per cent of their income on healthier food to be able to meet the Government’s Eatwell Guide, compared with 5 per cent for the wealthiest fifth.
4.3 In August this year, the price of fresh food rose by 10.5 per cent, the highest level since the global financial crash in 2008. It is estimated that food price inflation means that consumers are now paying £571 more on average for their groceries than last year.
4.4 Therefore, in the coming months, an increasing proportion of households will find it difficult to consume a healthy, varied, and nutritious diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. This could lead to people becoming more reliant on cheaper, energy-dense, and less healthy options, to constitute the majority of their diets. Simultaneously, recent research commissioned by the Trussell Trust found that 40 per cent of Universal Credit claimants skipped meals altogether in the last month. This suggests that some households simply cannot afford or obtain an appropriate quantity of food in the context of rising food inflation.
4.5 These challenges are likely to result in negative outcomes for lower-income households, who spent a greater proportion of their income on food. Poor health has long been associated with poverty, and rising food prices threaten to worsen the health inequalities already present between affluent and less affluent households.
4.6 Food insecurity is associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes in both adults and children, and can impact on levels of child development, leading to poorer health later in life. Higher food prices threaten to push more households into food poverty and subsequently puts individuals at greater risk of developing chronic, diet-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The prevalence of obesity in children in the most deprived areas of England is already more than double that of those in the least deprived areas. The rate of malnutrition, which is disproportionately concentrated in lower-income regions and households, has tripled since 2010. Without intervention, rising food prices could result in a public health emergency.
4.7 Early years providers and school caterers are reporting difficulties in ensuring access to high quality, healthy food for children in their settings. Nutrition remains central to providers, but some are having to make difficult choices which is resulting in less variety or less choice. Increased food prices have occurred at the same time as a recruitment and retention challenge in early years settings and uncertainty over gas and electric charges. This has left providers with limited opportunity to make savings in other areas to prioritise good quality food. Good nutrition is essential for development in the early years of a child’s life, particularly as now 1 in 5 children starting school are overweight or obese, with higher levels of obesity in areas of deprivation.
4.8 The combination of rising prices, income stagnation, and cuts to benefits are putting huge pressures on household budgets and has resulted in unprecedented demand for food aid. Trussell Trust, the largest network of foodbanks in the UK, have seen an 81 per cent increase in usage during the last two weeks of March 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. In August 2022, the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) surveyed 194 independent food banks and of these, 93 per cent reported an increase, or significant increase, in the need for their services with 95 per cent of these citing the cost of living as the main reason for need. These figures indicate that an increasing amount of people now face the prospect of living in chronic food insecurity.
4.9 At the same time, food banks themselves are being hit by escalating energy costs and a decrease in monetary and food supply donations. In August, the Guardian surveyed 169 food banks and found that over three quarters had seen a drop in donation levels since April 2022. The Care Food Bank in London, the largest independent food bank in the UK, has reported that their running costs for fridge-freezers has risen from £68 to £498 per month this year, with other food banks also citing similar price hikes. High electricity bills could lead to food banks favouring long-life supplies that do not require refrigeration, over fresh food. This threatens to further restrict access to nutritious food for those who are on a low-income and dependent on food aid. Small, local suppliers who are not part of wider networks will be more exposed to these pressures and vulnerable to closure if electricity bills eventually outstrip cash reserves.
4.10 While emergency food parcels serve a vital function, they are a short-term solution that do not tackle the root cause of hunger or provide a long-term healthy diet that meets nutritional need. An analysis of the nutritional adequacy and content of the Trussell Trust food parcels in Oxfordshire found that they exceeded energy requirements and provided disproportionately high sugar and carbohydrate and inadequate vitamin A and vitamin D, compared to the UK guidelines.
4.11 Food banks continue to work tirelessly to try and meet demand and prevent destitution. However, charitable food cannot and should not be seen as a sustainable solution to bridging the gap between income and the cost of living. We instead, should be focusing on a solution that ensures people can afford to meet their basic nutritional needs, and can make healthy, positive choices. A whole system approach to our food system, such as that outlined in the National Food Strategy, is needed to tackle present inequalities and ensure that everyone has access to safe, healthy, sustainable and affordable food, no matter where they live or how much they earn.
4.12 There are a number of measures that the Government should introduce to tackle rising food insecurity and expand access to access healthy and nutritious food. As income presents as the most significant barrier to an adequate diet, providing a fair, accessible and sufficient mainstream benefits system, which provides financial stability for low-income households and reflects true living costs, must be the fundamental intervention to address some of the key nutritional challenges faced by financially disadvantaged households.
4.13 In conjunction, councils and local partners should have the adequate, sustainable resources needed to provide targeted and effective crisis support, alongside services which increase opportunity and lift people out of poverty for good. This should also be alongside a strengthened role for councils in improving financial inclusion and resilience.
4.14 To ensure all children have consistent access to healthy food, the LGA is calling on the Government to expand the eligibility criteria for Free School Meals (FSM) and Healthy Start Vouchers to encompass all children and young people of school age who are in food poverty.
4.15 Children are currently only eligible for FSMs if their family receives a qualifying benefit and has an annual household income under £7400. This eligibility criteria has remained unchanged since its introduction in 2018. As a result, 1 in 3 children living in poverty – equating to 800,000 children – are not eligible for FSM. To address this, we want to work with the Government to find a solution that means all children facing food insecurity are entitled to a school lunch in term time, and the Holiday Activities and Food Programme during school holidays. Government could consider introducing universal provision of FSM to all primary pupils in England, which is a policy that the Scottish and Welsh devolved administrations have committed to.
4.16 It is also important that Government implements automatic enrolment of all children who are eligible for FSMs and Healthy Start Vouchers using DWP data and NHS data, respectively. At present, up to 11 per cent of children who are eligible for FSMs have not taken up the offer, equating to 215,000 school children in England. Similarly, Healthy Start Vouchers have an uptake rate of around 65 per cent, meaning 155,000 households across the UK are eligible but not receiving the benefit. We want to work with the Government to transition to an automatic enrolment system that would ensure that children do not miss out on FSMs and Healthy Start due to factors such as lack of awareness of the scheme or confusion over the eligibility criteria.
4.17 In the meantime, more needs to be done to promote the availability and accessibility of Healthy Start Vouchers. Take up has been low in the past and councils are working locally to ensure that parents are aware of the programme, as well as producing resources in accessible formats and different languages.
4.18 FSMs are a benefit worth £457.90 per child per year. Extending eligibility could represent a meaningful saving for many households on low-incomes who are currently ineligible.
4.19 In addition to tackling food poverty, widened access to FSMs could have significant long-term health and socio-economic benefits. Child Poverty Action Group research found that the introduction of universal provision of FSM to infants on average reduced the chances of a child becoming obese by 0.7 percentage points relative to the pre-policy average. This equates to a 7.4 per cent reduction in obesity rates. With fewer than 2 out of every one hundred packed lunches meeting UK nutritional standards, evidence suggests that providing free school meals can contribute to an overall healthier diet, especially for students living in socioeconomically disadvantaged households. FSMs have also been linked to improving attention and performance of children from low-income backgrounds. Expanding FSMs and provision could therefore contribute towards key objectives such as tackling health inequality, reducing the pressure on health services and closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.
4.20 As food prices continue to increase, the purchase power of Healthy Start Vouchers will subsequently reduce. We were pleased the Government increased the value of the vouchers in April 2021 from £3.10 to £4.25, as recommended in Part 1 of the National Food Strategy. However, as the price of food has since risen, it would follow that a further monetary increase will be needed to ensure that households remain able to purchase the amount of fruit and vegetables necessary to meet intended nutritional guidelines.
4.21 Councils have been working closely with the Department for Education (DfE) to deliver the Government-funded Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF). HAF is designed to support lower-income households during the school holidays by providing free healthy meals and enriching activities to children and young people entitled to FSMs.
4.22 Some councils have worked in partnership in order to provide additional wrap-around support for families taking part in the programme. For example, Isle of Wight Council has offered grants of up to £4,500 for organisations able to offer advice services around debt, employment, income maximisation, and housing. These efforts are intended to strengthen the impact that HAF has on the wider needs of the community.
4.23 Our own conversations with councils suggest that the scheme has been broadly viewed as successful, and councils have shared evidence of positive outcomes for individuals. An independent review of the programme by the Food Foundation and the University of York found that the meals served decreased food insecurity and provided children with a more varied, healthier diet than if not attending the clubs. The DfE end of year evaluation found that around a quarter of employed parents or carers whose children attended HAF said that the childcare enabled them to keep working the same hours, or to stay in work. This suggests that HAF could help deliver on wider national and local outcomes around health and wellbeing, employment, and financial inclusion.
5 How will the proposals in the Government’s food strategy policy paper affect access to healthy, nutritious food?
5.1 The Government’s Food Strategy represents a missed opportunity to tackle the underlying causes of a variety of issues, many of which will continue to be exacerbated by the growing cost of living crisis. Many of the key recommendations and findings of Henry Dimbleby’s independent report have not been addressed, particularly around creating healthier food environments.
5.2 There are very few concrete commitments in the strategy about improving access to healthy and nutritious food. The strategy outlined that further research was needed into the health effects of ultra-processed foods and that the eligibility of Free School Meals would be kept under review. The strategy outlined that it would learn from Local Food Partnerships’ approaches and work to understand and identify best practice in addressing food affordability and accessibility to healthy food. We await further information about these proposals.
5.3 The strategy emphasises the importance of individual choice, and suggested that if consumers make ‘better informed choices’ they will drive the food industry to supply healthier options. As part of this approach, the strategy stresses the importance of providing education to school-aged children about making healthy choices. The paper also committed to a consultation on mandatory reporting by industry against a set of health metrics by the end of 2023.
5.4 Unless the government takes urgent action to extend the ambitions of the strategy to tackle food insecurity, health inequalities will widen and its ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 will be missed.
6 How could the Government’s proposed land use strategy for England improve food security? What balance should be struck between land use for food production and other goals – such as environmental benefit?
6.1 Within the proposed land strategy, it would be helpful for Government to address some of the current challenges we face in tackling excess levels of nutrients in some of our water systems, as part of a whole-system approach to land management, food production and environmental protection.
6.2 In the instance of nutrient neutrality, councils in affected areas cannot approve applications for new housing developments until it can be proven that the housing will not have a negative impact on the level of nutrients. To mitigate nutrient pollution, the solution is often to give land over to ‘offsetting,’ for example through the creation of new wetlands. This allows development to restart but it does not tackle the underlying sources of nutrient pollution, with the two main sources being agricultural practices and wastewater.
6.3 The LGA has set up a policy inquiry on the complex issues of nutrient and water neutrality and we would be happy to share the findings with the Committee in due course.
6.4 As conveners of place, local government also has a role to play in supporting more food to be grown and purchased locally, to strengthen local food security and reduce emissions through the supply chain. For example, some councils have a direct role in local agriculture through running county farms. While other councils are developing innovative approaches to creating more sustainable local food systems, reducing food waste and avoidable emissions.
6.5 As part of their 50-point climate action plan and ambition to become a zero-waste city, Bristol City Council is working with City Partners such as Action 21 to take a city-wide approach to food waste reduction. As a key pillar of this approach, in 2018 they introduced a Good Food and Catering Procurement Policy. This requires council-linked food services to produce an annually reviewed plan for reducing food waste and minimising its environmental impact. The Bristol Eating Better Award supports and awards businesses and schools for adapting their offerings to include more sustainable options.
6.6 Similarly, Food Newcastle, which is a is a partnership of businesses, organisations and individuals established in 2013, is striving to make food culture in Newcastle healthier and more sustainable. A key priority of their Catering and Procurement Network for 2021-2024 is to deliver a shared vision for the procurement and catering of healthy and sustainable food, through the use of local, seasonal and ethical ingredients.
September 2022