Children’s Future Food Inquiry
In 2019, we undertook the year-long Children’s Future Food Inquiry as a first attempt to directly and systematically seek the views of children and young people living in poverty across the UK. The project’s final report pulls together direct input from hundreds of young people, the front-line staff, academics and experts.
Who created the report?
The Children’s Future Food Inquiry was spearheaded by a cross-party parliamentary committee and conducted by partners in each of the devolved nations: Food Sense Wales, Children in Wales, Children in Scotland and Children in Northern Ireland. The report has been developed by the Inquiry Committee and the Inquiry’s fifteen young Food Ambassadors.
Recommendations
The Inquiry’s young food ambassadors have developed their #Right2Food Charter that could, if implemented, loosen the grip of food poverty on children. We commend this charter to the government.
During Covid-19, the Charter was updated to reflect imperatives in policy change brought about the pandemic
“The stories that young people told the committee members throughout this inquiry were both illuminating and heart-breaking, but it is important that adults, especially politicians, take them seriously so that we can truly tackle food insecurity, particularly amongst young people and their families.”
Co-Chair, Sharon Hodgson MP
Scope of the report
The report focuses on three food settings that characterise children’s lives: pre-school settings, school and home, and examine the policies and programmes in place that are intended to support children to eat well. We look at these settings in all four UK nations. We document the evidence on whether these policies are reaching children living in poverty, and we present the views of children and those who work with them on how these policies work in practice.
Evidence for the Inquiry
This Inquiry focuses on the food situation of children living in poverty across the UK. It draws on a wide variety of evidence but places a central focus on listening directly to school-age children about their experiences.
