A new report from the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee has delivered a stark assessment of the UK’s food environment, concluding that successive Governments have failed to tackle rising obesity rates and calling for strong Government action. The report – Food and Weight Management: Fixing the Food Environment – argues that unhealthy diets are shaped not by individual choices alone, but by the wider environment in which people buy, access and consume food.

The Committee highlights that 65% of adults are now overweight or living with obesity, with obesity among children starting school reaching a record high. It emphasises that the UK’s food environment continues to make unhealthy food cheaper, more accessible and more heavily promoted than healthier alternatives, with significant consequences for both public health and the economy.

The report calls for stronger action to improve access to affordable, nutritious food – recommending mandatory reporting on healthy food sales by major retailers, alongside targets to increase the proportion of healthier foods they sell. It also calls for the Healthy Start Scheme, which helps eligible families buy fruit, vegetables, milk and infant formula, to be strengthened through higher voucher values, wider eligibility and improved uptake. Together, these measures aim to make healthy food more affordable and accessible to all.

Improving access to healthy food forms only one part of the Committee’s recommendations. It also argues for tighter restrictions on the advertising and promotion of foods high in fat, salt and sugar; these include extending advertising regulations and taking further action to reduce children’s exposure to the marketing of less healthy foods across a range of settings, including online platforms and public spaces. The report goes further to emphasise the need for Government to place health at the heart of food policy and to take a coordinated approach across departments. It states that meaningful progress will only be achieved if policymakers address the wider factors that influence what people eat, including affordability, availability and the broader food environment.

Hannah Williams, Policy Lead at Feeding Liverpool, has responded to the report: 

We welcome the Committee’s recognition that the food choices available to people are shaped by the systems and environments around them. Across Liverpool, we see every day how rising food costs, low incomes and unequal access to healthy food restrict the choices available to many households. For too many families, eating well is shaped less by personal choice, and more by what they can afford and what is available where they live.

 

This report reinforces that tackling diet-related ill health cannot be separated from tackling poverty and food insecurity. Everyone should be able to access affordable, nutritious food – regardless of where they live or how much money they have. Measures such as strengthening the Healthy Start Scheme and making nutritious food more affordable are positive steps towards creating a fairer and more equitable food system.

 

At Feeding Liverpool, we support policies that address the root causes of food insecurity and health inequalities. We look forward to seeing the new Government’s response to these recommendations, and will continue to work with local and national partners to ensure that everyone has access to the food they need to thrive.