Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access

Ben Coleman Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham) (Lab)]

Just yesterday, the Government came out with new figures showing that the prevalence of childhood obesity in the most deprived areas is more than double the prevalence in the least deprived. It may surprise many hon. Members to hear that it is a significant problem in my constituency. Although Chelsea and Fulham is among the most affluent constituencies in the country, it has huge pockets of deprivation and poverty, as do many parts of London. Just last week, the English indices of deprivation ranked the World’s End estate in Chelsea in the bottom decile for deprivation and in the second lowest decile for health outcomes. The fabulous residents of the World’s End estate live on one side of King’s Road, and literally just across the road, the equally fabulous residents of some wonderful, beautiful houses are in the top decile for income and health. I find it hard to understand, as I am sure everyone here does, why the children on the World’s End estate should be condemned to worse health outcomes than those living just across the road.

Sadly, the reason, simply put—as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South (Gordon McKee) said—is access. He talked about transport access, but there is simply too little access to affordable healthy food. Healthy diets are simply out of reach for too many. Healthy foods are often twice as expensive per calorie as unhealthy foods, which manufacturers shove full of fat, sugar and salt. It is cheap, and it is poisoning people, leading to the obesity epidemic.

Of course, people do not make decisions in a void. It is not just about money; they are under huge marketing pressure to buy unhealthy food. The Health and Social Care Committee, of which I am a member, is conducting an inquiry into food and obesity, and I was told just this morning that the advertising budget of KitKat alone exceeds the entire UK Government budget for promoting healthy eating. Witnesses told the Committee that food manufacturers and supermarkets must do much more to be part of the solution, not just the problem. To do that, we need mandatory Government action. That would mean strengthening the Healthy Start scheme, supporting charities such as Alexandra Rose, which does wonderful work in my constituency, enforcing ambitious school food standards and building on the soft drinks levy.

[Amanda Hack (North West Leicestershire) (Lab)]

Earlier this year, in my capacity as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for food and drink, I hosted a roundtable on increasing access to healthy fruit and vegetables. Innocent Drinks has led a sector response on that inequality and has proposed a focus on access around schools. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government must work alongside schools, particularly in disadvantaged areas, to reduce inequality in food access?

[Ben Coleman]

That is a very important point. The availability of fast food right outside schools needs to be looked at and curtailed. The food is cheap, but it is incredibly low quality, and it is not doing our children any good. And school food standards are not properly enforced. There is a lot of cheap school food, but in some of the schools I visit, it is just orange—it is not healthy. The Government need to do a lot more to provide resources to local authorities so that they can properly enforce food standards.

We also need to do other things. We need to extend the sugar tax and the soft drinks levy, and have a general levy on unhealthy foods. At the same time, healthy food must not go up in price. As we make unhealthy food more expensive, we should bring the price of healthy food down. That is a huge challenge for any Government. We have lots of creative people in supermarkets, who come up with wonderful ideas for pumping our food full of unnutritious substances, but I would love to see them take the same effort to bringing healthy food to the population at a price that can be afforded.

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

I wonder whether the root of the solution is for local authorities and schools to have mandatory minimum purchases from local producers, thereby giving local farmers a supply chain into the local area and providing fresh food for children.

[David Mundell (in the Chair)]

Can the hon. Member respond and also conclude, so that the Minister may respond to the numerous points that have been made in the debate?

[Ben Coleman]

I am grateful, Mr Mundell—I will conclude. The hon. Member makes a very helpful point, particularly for constituencies that are more rural than mine of Chelsea and Fulham—what he says certainly has validity in many parts of the country. My final point is very simple: families do not need lectures. They need a Government who are prepared to do a lot more to ensure fair access to healthy, affordable food.