'We're living the reality that for them is just words on paper'

The government has responded to the House of Lords Select Committee on Food, Diet & Obesity Report. We have been waiting for this moment.

Four of our Food Ambassadors, who have lived or living experience of food insecurity, attended the Select Committee, giving up their time to provide evidence as experts by experience.

The report was promising. Having taken the Committee many months to gather data and input from a wide range of experts, and we were delighted to see all four ambassadors quoted throughout the report.

Evidence by our Food Ambassador Kathleen Kerridge went viral

The findings were thorough and echoed our calls to the government:

• Improve food businesses reporting and transparency  
• Introduce a salt and sugar reformulation tax on food manufacturers, building on the success of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy 
• Ban the advertising of less healthy food across all media  
• Commission further research into the links between ultra-processed foods and adverse health outcomes and review dietary guidelines to reflect any new evidence 
• Develop a strategy for maternal and infant nutrition  
• Drive up compliance with the school food standards  
• Enable auto-enrolment for Healthy Start and free school meals and widen eligibility for both schemes

However, last week’s response from the government lacked the ambition needed to deal with the issues at the core of the broken food system. Here are thoughts from those who spoke in the House of Lords:

Food Ambassador Caroline Woollam, from Stockport, who gave evidence to the Committee, said: "To the government: everything you needed to know is right in front of you. If only you would open your eyes and speak with the true sufferers of poverty and food insecurity.

"Spend six months on minimum wage or on minimal benefits and then say you still don’t see it because you will. Not everyone falls lucky with a job nor is everyone healthy enough to work. We shouldn’t suffer because of that.

"Nearly one million children are at risk of falling into poverty due lack of support and investment of housing alone.

"This figure doesn’t include the statistics around food poverty, which we know intersects with housing issues and other vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, 4.3 million children already live in poverty.

"If this many children are suffering, imagine the impact on the adults who care for them, who will give to a child before they feed themselves.

"I feel the government should have paid more attention to our evidence. We are living the reality that for them, is just words on paper."

Food Ambassador Penny Walters, from Newcastle, who also gave evidence to the Committee, said: "As someone who gave evidence to the committee, I am frustrated to see so little substance in the response.

"Under normal circumstances, I would have hoped for something to come from it given that people like me gave up our time to provide advise and insights.

"The fact that they quote "inherited masses of debt" from the last government shows that they will continue to use this an excuse for a couple of years.

"In the meantime, millions of people are living without access to a healthy diet. This shows they don't care that we struggle."

While the response main feel disappointing, we remain hopeful.

In October, thirteen ambassadors provided evidence to the Child Poverty Taskforce, in December, six young Food Ambassadors met with Stephen Morgan MP (the Minister for Early Years) to advise on the Children’s Wellbeing & Schools Bill and in January eight ambassadors attended a parliamentary event where their photo-storytelling project on the UK’s food environment and speeches stole the show.

We will continue to platform citizen’s voices and experiences; it is time for the policymakers to listen.