SLOW FOOD LONDON & THE GENERAL
ELECTION 2010
We are inviting the major political
parties to publicly state their position and policies, before the
General Election, on 5 questions.
We will be publicising all the
responses we receive.
To
make
Slow Food London’s campaign even more effective, we’d like to ask you to
approach the candidates who are standing in your constituency to ask
them these questions.
If you don’t know who they are, you can
find their names and contact details on www.theyworkforyou.com.
You could write to them, e-mail them or contact them via
Twitter.
You can copy and paste a template letter to them from
this website, which maybe you will also want to customise.
If
you get a personal response from your candidates, we’d all love to see
it. Just send it to us.
SLOW
FOOD LONDON MP LETTER TO MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES 2010
Name
of candidate
Title
Address
Post
code
Date
Dear
(name of your MP)
Slow
Food London Questions for Political Parties,
General
Election
2010
Food
plays a huge role in our lives as Londoners. Each year we spend more
than £10bn on food and drink alone – not including spending by
visitors to London. Londoners eat as many different types of food as
we have diverse cultures in our community.
Politicians’
decisions influence what we eat, its quality, where we eat it, what
we can afford to eat, how our food reaches us, where our food comes
from, how our food is produced, and how our food directly affects our
health and our quality of life.
Slow
Food London believes we have a right to know the policies of our
political parties on the most important food issues facing Londoners.
I
am both a Slow Food London member and a voter in the constituency for
which you are standing as a candidate. My questions to you, and the
other political parties in your constituency, are:
(1) Well-being: How can Government best help us to make healthy
nutritional choices, rather than experience the ill-health consequences
of nutritional deficiencies?
(2) Impact on
society: What are the consequences of providing poor nutrition to public
organisations such as hospitals, prisons, nursery schools etc., and
what should Government do about it?
(3) Quality: What can
(a) Government, parents and schools do to encourage children to
eat better quality food in balanced quantities at home and school and
(b) Government do to encourage and help the elderly to eat better
quality food in balanced quantities?
(4) Access: How can what are known as “food deserts”,
areas or groups of people in London without easy access (or perceived
access) to shops with reasonably priced fresh food such as vegetables,
fruit, meat and dairy produce, be addressed?
(5) Food waste: What should the Government do about reducing
food
waste, in addition to recycling, across all sectors?
For
your information, Slow Food London is the capital’s own
organisation
for people concerned about the food we eat. Slow Food London is
supported by producers, suppliers, restaurateurs and, most important
of all - consumers.
Slow
Food London is part of a wider global Slow Food movement. It values
taste,
seasonal
produce,
cultural and regional differences, and wants to see good,
clean and fair food available both globally and in the UK.
I
will be looking to post your reply on the Slow Food London website in
advance of the General Election.
I
look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours
sincerely,
Name
Address
RESPONSES
(1) Well-being:
How can Government best help us to make healthy
nutritional choices, rather than experience the ill-health consequences
of nutritional deficiencies?
Labour
Party response
90%
of people say that eating healthily is important to them - but only 14%
of us eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
Labour believes the best way to encourage people to eat healthy food is
through a combination of education and by making it easier for people
to access healthy food.
In terms of education, learning about how
food is produced, where it comes from, and how to grow and cook it are
vital. We have already put the preparation and cooking of food on the
school curriculum, but we can all learn more about food both at home and
in our communities.
We launched Change4Life to encourage us all
to eat well, move more and live longer. Over 415,000 families have
joined the campaign, all of whom receive information and advice tailored
to their needs.
We are also helping people to make healthier
choices in the food they buy in shops and restaurants. The Department of
Health and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are working with the
industry to implement a Healthy Food Code of Good Practice. We are
continuing to work with the Association of Convenience Stores to roll
out a project across England to promote fruit and vegetables in stores
in deprived areas. To further help those on low incomes, Healthy Start
also gives around 450,000 families vouchers to buy healthy food.
-end-
Nick Herbert MP, Shadow
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs response
Regarding your question on
well-being, we believe the Government cannot improve public health
through crude attempts to dictate the way people should behave. People
are often sceptical about the guidelines and advice they receive from
government and other officials. They prefer to rely on information about
their health from sources that they choose themselves. Our approach to
improving public health is based on strengthening society and helping
people take more responsibility for their own health. Our decentralised
approach to NHS reform will completely redefine the role of the
Department of Health. We will enshrine this change: it will be renamed
the Department of Public Health and its role will be focused much more
strongly on the prevention of disease, rather than just its cure. -end-
(2) Impact on society: What are the consequences of providing
poor
nutrition to public organisations such as hospitals, prisons, nursery
schools etc., and what should Government do about it?
Labour Party response
Healthy eating is an important part of good physical and mental
health and achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. We are committed
to leading by example by serving healthy, sustainable food in the public
sector and have put in place a series of schemes and measures to
encourage healthy eating and educate both individuals and caterers. -end-
Nick Herbert MP, Shadow
Secretary of State for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs response
Turning to your query about nutrition in public organisations, we
feel that good quality food has direct physical and mental health
impacts. The public sector spends around £2billion on food each year.
Conservatives believe that spending a greater proportion of taxpayers’
money on sustainable food produced to British standards will help our
farmers, benefit the environment, and improve nutritional standards.
However, official figures show that the Government is sourcing a
declining proportion of British food. Last year, I announced that a
Conservative Government would require all Whitehall departments to
procure food that met British standards of production, wherever this
could be achieved without increasing overall costs. We want to go even
further, and drive more sustainable food procurement across the public
sector. -end-
(3) Quality: What can
(a) Government, parents and schools do to encourage children to
eat better quality food in balanced quantities at home and school and
(b) Government do to encourage and help the elderly to eat better
quality food in balanced quantities?
Labour Party response
Ensuring that children, young people, families and every adult have
the information, advice and support they need to make healthier choices
in what they eat is a long-standing priority for Labour.
We use a
variety of approaches to promote healthy eating to different audiences,
including children and older people, for example through written
resources, websites and consumer awareness campaigns.
We have
made significant progress in the past 12 months to build on the work to
date. Our approach is not just about giving advice, but also about
providing healthy food in schools and other settings. Statutory
nutritional standards for lunches provided in schools came into force
for maintained primary schools in September 2008 and for maintained
secondary and special schools in September 2009: this means that lunches
provided in all maintained schools must now meet these standards. Food
served in other parts of the school day or from vending machines must
also meet statutory food-based standards.
The proportion of
children having school lunches has started to rise and parents can be
confident that their children are eating a healthy, nutritious meal at
school. The School Food Trust is working with schools and local
authorities to promote and encourage take up of school meals, and we
continue to ensure that pupils aged four to six receive a piece of fruit
or vegetable every day through the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme –
which provides children between four to six years old, in LEA maintained
infant, primary and special schools with a free piece of fruit or
vegetable each school day.
Cookery classes are already part of
the curriculum in primary schools and pupils in key stage 3 can now take
up the offer of the Licence to Cook programme – giving all pupils the
chance to learn to cook healthy meals. In December 2009, we updated and
re-launched the highly successful cookbook, Real Meals -simple cooking
that tastes great, a wider range of recipes and made it available to all
year 7 pupils. All recipes were produced by the British Nutrition
Foundation and meet the required nutrient standards. In addition, 99% of
schools are now participating in the Healthy Schools Programme and
healthy eating is a core criterion for achieving healthy school status.
We
are helping parents gain the skills they need to prepare and cook
healthy meals at home. In January 2010 we began piloting the
"train-the-trainer programme" Cook4Life 'Cooking with Families' in both
the North West and South West. This pilot will give Sure Start
Children's Centre staff the skills to enable them to run cookery courses
in their centres which will help parents learn food preparation and
cookery skills for use at home. We have also funded the Health, Exercise
and Nutrition for the Really Young (HENRY) programme to disseminate
good practice in Sure Start Children's Centres on healthy eating and
exercise.
Change4Life encourages us all to eat well, move more
and live longer. Over 415,000 families have joined the campaign and
receive information and advice tailored to their needs. It is primarily
aimed at families with children aged between five and 11, but is
relevant to adults of all ages.
To support families with younger
children, in October 2009 we published a Change4Life Early Years
toolkit for practitioners working with younger children. Start4Life,
launched in January 2010, provides authoritative and up to date advice
to pregnant women and parents of babies and children up to two years old
on breastfeeding, introducing infants to solid food and active play so
that babies can have the best start in life.
We are also helping
people make healthier choices in the food they buy in shops and
restaurants through the work the Department of Health and the Food
Standards Agency (FSA) are taking forward with industry to implement the
Healthy Food Code of Good Practice as set out in Healthy Weight,
Healthy Lives: One Year On. In addition, we are continuing to work with
the Association of Convenience Stores to roll out a project across
England to promote fruit and vegetables in stores in deprived areas,
using the Change4Life brand.
Since 2003, the Labour government
has led the 5 A DAY programme working with partners in the public,
private and third sectors. We understand that the role of the food
industry is also vital in helping to raise awareness and improve
consumption of schemes such as 5 A DAY, through product branding,
product promotion and information in stores and on websites. -end-
Nick Herbert MP, Shadow
Secretary of State for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs response
On the issue of encouraging the
public to eat healthily, a Conservative Government will ensure that
business, alongside public authorities, plays its part on improving
people’s health. We will work together to extend to all media voluntary
restrictions on marketing to children to all media, including online
advertising, and also support industry-led initiatives to promote better
health, such as reducing food portion sizes and reformulation. Building
on the solid work of the Public Health Commission’s report, “We’re all
in this together, improving the long-term health of the nation”, we will
ensure that businesses, alongside the public and voluntary sectors, are
joint owners of a long term public health strategy. In addition, we
will discuss with industry how we can improve the consistency of
information available to consumers, such as in fast-food outlets,
restaurants, cafes and bars. We will work with the food and drink
industry to improve the clarity of information on food packaging, such
as ‘Guideline Daily Amounts’ (GDAs) and will improve on the ‘units’
labelling system for alcohol which is often difficult for people to
understand. And by encouraging bodies such as Local Education
Authorities to be more transparent about the food they are buying, we
can put local people in a position to work together to force change and
improve nutritional standards. -end-
(4) Access: How can what are known as “food deserts”,
areas or groups of people in London without easy access (or perceived
access) to shops with reasonably priced fresh food such as vegetables,
fruit, meat and dairy produce, be addressed?
Labour Party response
We
take the issue of “food deserts” seriously – especially for low income
and other vulnerable groups. We understand that rising food prices over
the last two years have exerted great pressure on budgets in low income
households. UK households spend an average of £36.32 per person per week
on food and non-alcoholic drinks. This accounts for 11% of all
expenditure for an average household, but nearly 17% for a low-income
household.
Households need access to affordable, nutritious food
to give them food security. Our UK Food Security Assessment shows that
physical access to food is not itself a significant problem, nor a
significant negative factor in diets. There are however a number of
other barriers to accessing healthy food including income levels,
education and skills, which affect low income and other vulnerable
groups more acutely.
A lot of work is already underway across
government to address these barriers. Access to fruit and vegetables is
being addressed through the Healthy Start initiative, and small-scale
local initiatives, including food distribution charities and community
food growing initiatives. Healthy Start also gives around 450,000
families vouchers to buy healthy food.
The tax and benefit system
is also vital. From April this year, Pension Credit will be £132.60 a
week and £202.40 for couples, a rise of over a third in real terms.
Labour’s Winter Fuel Payment for the over 60’s ensures older people need
not choose between heating and eating, and free bus travel ensures they
can reach their local shops.
We also understand that even though
crime and anti social behaviour has fallen under Labour, it is still a
real issue in many areas, and we also recognise that fear of crime and
anti social behaviour has not fallen at the same rate. The introduction
of dedicated Neighbourhood Policing Teams to every community in England
and Wales is helping to address this issue. Our further commitment that
they will spend at least 80% of their time on the beat should further
help ensure that vulnerable groups feel safe in their own communities to
make the journey to the shops.
Of course, rural and urban
farmers’ markets also play a role. They are one of the great successes
of recent years, particularly in the way in which they address some of
the urban “food deserts” by providing fresh, affordable food and
ensuring that it is locally sourced. There are now an estimated 800
farmers’ markets and the number is growing all the time. We fully
recognise the benefits that they bring to both producers and consumers
and support them in areas where access to food is an issue. -end-
Nick Herbert MP, Shadow
Secretary of State for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs response
On “food deserts” in London,
through the ‘Capital
Growth’ scheme London Mayor Boris Johnson is encouraging Londoners
to grow their own food in under-used areas of the capital to boost
access to fresh and affordable food. Not only do innovative schemes such
as this tap into the rising demand for self-grown food, they create
green urban spaces, benefit the environment and are great for community
spirit. -end-
(5) Food waste: What should the Government do about reducing
food waste, in addition to recycling, across all sectors?
Labour Party response
We throw 8 million tonnes of food way every year, costing the average
family £480 a year. In addition to recycling, Labour is running the
Love Food, Hate Waste campaign – to give people ideas and ways of
reducing their food waste. Retailers are also joining in with ‘buy one
get one free later’ offers and recipe cards on how to use leftovers.
Furthermore,
we are working together with the Food Standards Agency and WRAP (the
Waste and Resources Action Programme) to make date labelling and storage
guidance on food clearer and more consistent, to help reduce food waste
and ensure food safety.
WRAP is also working with food producers to
find ways of reducing waste and creating new opportunities for
recycling. This includes reducing the amount of unnecessary packaging
used for food, as well as making more of our essential packaging
recyclable. Retailers are working to make packaging lighter, which is
cheaper and uses less fuel to transport.
While it's up to local
authorities exactly how they collect people's rubbish, lots of councils
are already collecting kitchen waste and turning it into energy or
compost. If that can reduce the amount of food we throw away, and the
waste that's left over be used again, councils will save taxpayers'
money and reduce their carbon emissions. -end-
Dan Norris MP Rural Affairs and Environment Minister response
I have referred your first 4
questions to the Food Standards Agency, as it is the competent authority
tasked with research in food safety and enforcement of good practice.
However, tackling the issue of food waste is among this department’s top
priorities.
Our
most recent estimates show that in the UK about 18-20 million tonnes of
food waste is produced annually, and much of this is completely
avoidable. Over 60 per cent of household food waste – which equates to
5.3 million tonnes – is potentially preventable. We know that at least
£12 billion worth of food and drink that could have been consumed is
thrown out every year. UK households are throwing out on average around
£480 worth of food per year which increases to around £680 per year for
families with children. The cost to local authorities for disposal is
equally eye-watering at over £1 billion for it to be sent to landfill.
Biodegradable mass in landfill decomposes to form methane, a greenhouse
gas 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
We throw away food
for two main reasons; of the avoidable food and drink waste, 2.2 million
tonnes is thrown away due to cooking, preparing or serving too much and
a further 2.9 million tonnes is thrown away because it was not used in
time.
The message we are putting out is clear – reduce, reuse,
recycle. The Government’s Waste Strategy 2007 puts greater emphasis on
waste prevention and sets higher national targets to recycle or compost
at least 40 per cent of household waste by 2010, rising to 50 per cent
by 2020. It also sets a new target to reduce the amount of household
waste not re-used, recycled or composted from over 22.2 million tonnes
in 2000 by 29 per cent to 15.8 million tonnes in 2010 with an aspiration
to reduce it to 12.2 million tonnes in 2020 – a reduction of 45%.
We
are continuing to work with the Government-funded Waste Resource Action
Programme (WRAP) to significantly cut food waste. We have three main
programmes with which to do this:
- ‘Love Food Hate Waste’– an information/media campaign to help
consumers avoid unnecessarily wasting food; more info at www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
- The ‘Courtauld Commitment’, a voluntary agreement between UK
governments and the grocery industry, with ambitious targets to reduce
household and supply chain food waste (more info at www.wrap.org.uk)
- A Defra/WRAP/Food Standards Agency project to improve the
application and understanding of food date labelling and storage
guidance.
Launched in July 2005 and running to March 2010, the first phase 1 of
the Courtauld Commitment had three targets: an absolute halt in
packaging growth by 2008; an absolute reduction in packaging waste by
2010; and a reduction in household food waste of 155,000 tonnes by 2010.
In August 2008 WRAP reported an absolute halt to grocery packaging
growth had been achieved. We launched the second phase this month, which
included a target for a 4 per cent reduction in household food and
drink wastage, equalling an estimated CO2 saving of 1.2 million tonnes, a
reduction in food waste of around 330,000 tonnes, and a consumer cost
saving of around £800 million.
While we have given local
authorities the freedom and flexibility to decide how they run their
recycling operations, we also understand the financial burden and as
such WRAP recently announced £3.3 million of funding for local
authorities to introduce or expand food waste collection. We have also
published a consultation on the introduction of restrictions on the
landfilling of certain wastes. Subject to further evidence of the costs
of alternatives, the Government believes there is a good case for
considering landfill restrictions on food and other materials.
The
Government is also working closely with the food industry to improve
its environmental impact through the Food Industry Sustainability
Strategy (FISS). The FISS targets a reduction in the food industry’s own
wastes of 15-20% by 2010.
I would also like to take note of the
huge number of charitable organisations that are working very hard to
reduce the amount of food, by redistributing surplus stock to vulnerable
people in the community such as Fairshare, who we readily support.
Lastly,
it is inevitable that there will be some food waste that cannot be
prevented, and this is where there are substantial benefits in the use
of anaerobic digestion (AD) to treat it. As well as treating food waste,
AD produces ‘biogas’, which can be used as a renewable source of
energy. It also produces a compost-like digestate which can return
nutrients to the soil. We are currently working hard to help deliver AD
projects across the country to assist in both the generation of
renewable energy and sustainable waste management.
If you would
like up to date information on what the Government is doing to promote
sustainable waste management in the UK, please visit our website at: www.defra.gov.uk/waste.
-end-
Nick Herbert
MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs response
Finally, on reducing the amount of food waste, we believe that
reducing waste is an area that is too often overlooked. Recycling is
essential, but we should also be cutting the amount of waste which we
produce in the first place. There is clear evidence that using resources
more sustainably makes economic, as well as environmental, sense.
M&S through its ‘Plan A’ scheme has achieved savings of £50 million
with more sustainable business practices and reducing waste food and
packaging. Even at an individual level, reducing waste can save
households money. UK households throw away over 8 million tonnes of food
every year, which equates to £680 for the average family with children.
To help address this we will introduce an ambitious Responsibility Deal
on waste – a voluntary arrangement among producers and the big
retailers to cut back on the production of waste and improve its
disposal. -end-
