Health experts have raised fears over plans to give local authorities huge say over where money is spent on the government’s food strategy.
The Grocer revealed last week that ministers were planning a series of “hyper-local” interventions, backed by supermarkets and other industry sectors, which would aim to allow areas of high poverty to take action to support the poorest families.
However, sources told The Grocer they were “alarmed” at the lack of evidence behind the strategy, after it emerged local councils will be given autonomy on how they spend the money being allocated to support the plan.
In discussions with the Food Strategy Advisory Panel, made up of industry leaders, NGOs and health experts, Defra minister Angela Eagle has said she wants to “seize the opportunity” to help poor families fighting the cost of living crisis. She plans to combine the strategy with the government’s Pride in Place Programme, which was announced in November and will see up to £5bn given to nearly 250 areas across the UK.
But one leading health expert, who has been briefed on the plans, told The Grocer: “My worry is that there is no guidance to local authorities as to what they spend the money on.
“There’s no consistent evaluation framework to assess how effective this spending is. Instead they are going to leave it up to local areas to work in the way they want with the food industry.”
It’s understood the government hopes local authorities will work in tandem with supermarkets and other food companies to target help, including plans such as increasing support to breakfast clubs and boosts to Healthy Start vouchers, as well as other schemes to improve access to healthy food.
But the source added: “The trouble is if you’re a retailer you’re going to get an approach form Blackpool wanting to do this, Stockport wanting to do something different and somewhere else different again.
“Our fear is that this will miss a chance for the government’s food strategy to inspire a shift to healthier eating.
“It’s great that that the government wants to work with the industry but they need to give us some guidance as to what they are looking for.
“This needs to be evidence-based. When the government is looking at local interventions it needs to base it on evidence of what works.”
In February, The Grocer revealed supermarkets were in talks under the strategy aimed at bringing back Covid-style top-up vouchers under the scheme to help struggling parents cope with the cost of living crisis.
The government has also vowed that the food strategy will take action to try to prevent so-called “food deserts”.
No comments yet