Food: Imports and Security

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

We are firmly supportive of the Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture that the noble Lord has been so instrumental in setting up and running. We want to make sure that we are improving the skills available and that those skills reflect how young people want to go into an industry now. They want portable qualifications that they can take into different areas of farming, agricultural production or the food industry. Improving skills is an absolute priority. We will not get the improvements in areas such as horticulture unless we improve the skills base. That is why we are determined to see organisations such as TIAH succeed.

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, the poorest 20% of the population spend a higher proportion of their income on food. This makes them vulnerable to the effects of changing food prices. They are the very people who need to eat a good-quality, balanced diet to maintain their health. Will the Minister undertake to lobby his colleagues in other departments to ensure that they are aware of the health effects of insufficient food and nutrition and to ensure that both benefits and free school meals are extended to cover the gap in rising food prices?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right that food inflation adversely affects those on the lowest incomes and she is right to raise the issue of healthy food for children. We have increased the value of our Healthy Start vouchers to £4.25 a week and spent around £600 million a year ensuring an additional 1.25 million infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the universal infant free school meal policy of 2014. I am very happy to keep her and other noble Lords abreast of other conversations we have in the context of food and the work happening across government to help families deal with the cost of living crisis.