Food Prices and Food Poverty

Laura Sandys Excerpts

Monday 23rd January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Robert Flello]

I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman asks that question. I would like the goods on the shelves to be at a fair price so that families can afford to buy one of something and do not have to go for a two-for-one offer to get the best value. I know that he is perhaps still an unpaid spokesperson for a supermarket.

There is a problem with the desire for perfect food, too. Our farmers are having to waste a lot of food because it does not meet some of the supermarkets’ requirements for perfect food.

[Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Robert Flello]

I will not, because I have less than two minutes to go. If there is time at the end of my speech I will allow the hon. Lady to intervene.

My final point is about the groceries code adjudicator. We need somebody who holds the supermarkets to account, because whether we are talking about the past two years, the previous 13 years—as the Secretary of State tries to shift the blame on to our side—or the past 20, 25 or 30 years, the supermarkets have been making money left, right and centre, hand over fist, but at the same time our farmers have told us that they are struggling. The number of farmers now is a fraction of what it was 20 or 30 years ago, and customers and consumers—our constituents—are suffering. We need the adjudicator. If the Secretary of State has a problem with the need for an adjudicator, the answer is quite simple: if the adjudicator is appointed and does not have any work to do, perhaps the post will have been a success because the supermarkets have realised that the game is up.

This debate is not about those of us who are in the comfortable position of being able to go out and buy what we want in the supermarket. It is about the poorest in our society, who may not have freezers and fridges, and cannot buy in bulk, or buy food when it is on offer. They are the ones who work and live from week to week—sometimes from day to day. The House and the Secretary of State need to provide a positive steer, to ensure that the most vulnerable families are looked after, helped and supported by all the machinery of government.

--- Later in debate ---

[Miss McIntosh]

I am so fond of my hon. Friend that I have great difficulty in saying that I must draw his attention to the remarks I have just made. His big organisation—Asda—is revered in north Yorkshire because it stemmed from Associated Dairies, which not only set the price but provided a market for local milk suppliers. Individual growers need protection, because they are unable to speak for themselves. We all have big constituencies and may not always be aware of such individuals. I hesitate to say whether big companies are “good guys” or “bad guys”, but Asda and Morrisons source a lot of their food locally—almost 80% or 90%. We need to protect the small individual growers.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee believes that two of its conclusions could have an impact if the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs can persuade the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to amend the draft Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill. First, the ability of suppliers to make anonymous complaints is fundamental to the success of the groceries code adjudicator. Secondly, the adjudicator should have the power to launch investigations. We are all agreed that he should have the power to fine, but he should also have the power to launch investigations.

[Laura Sandys]

I have just established a not-for-profit company called Ugly Food. The strapline is “Tasty but imperfect, just like you”. There is a phenomenal number of small suppliers who have food rejected because their produce is not perfect. We should look to create a market for that food, so that we do not waste it.

[Miss McIntosh]

The House will draw its own conclusions about my hon. Friend’s self-advertising.

I understand that the powers of the Competition Commission are based on the powers of the Commission in Brussels. The EU directorate general for competition has the power to swoop when it believes an investigation should take place. I urge my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to make the same plea to the Business, Innovation and Skills Secretary to adopt those two recommendations—and, indeed, all the Committee’s recommendations.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be aware of the Committee’s work on food security. I hope she will remove any inconsistencies between trying to supply a secure strand of food and sustainable food production. There is an inconsistency at the heart of the Government on that. She will be involved in discussions on common agricultural reform in Brussels. Greening the common agricultural policy could take productive land out of production. It could also be hugely expensive and involve the introduction of more complex regulations, which we should be aiming to simplify.

--- Later in debate ---

[Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con)]

I must now declare an interest in the organisation called Ugly Food that I have established. I believe that it is open to all small producers to market their foods with new branding and a new logo.

Perhaps I am looking at these matters non-politically, and perhaps I am looking too far into the future, but I think that we have a real problem. We talk about cheap food, but we are not always going to be able to deliver cheap food. We will have been deluding our constituents by suggesting that it will be available in the longer term, unless someone comes up with the answers to climate change, increased calorific intake and population growth. If we are to be responsible and live in the real world, we must try to deliver a system in which the cost of feeding one’s family healthily and effectively does not go up in price, but that is fundamentally different from talking about cheap food.

The food system in this country has been distorted by the very cheapness of the products. Food here is cheaper than in any other country in Europe and, as a result, we have seen a much steeper price hike in recent years than the rest of Europe. That price hike has been compounded by two fundamental aspects of our food chain. We import much more than any other OECD country, and we eat much more processed food, which is highly energy intensive and labour intensive. A further anomaly is that, although this country’s supply chain is supremely efficient, it is not very resilient. As a result, we face greater price fluctuations and volatility when shocks to the system occur.

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

I draw Members’ attention to my declaration of interest. My hon. Friend is right to say that food prices will continue to rise, and that that will be a problem. Is it not the case, however, that one way of tackling that would be to tackle food waste? Should we not also examine the new technology that could really move agriculture forward, not only in the UK but around the world?

[Laura Sandys]

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. It is pretty frightening that wheat yields in this country have not increased at all over the past 20 years. Also, because food has been so cheap in this country, we have not valued it. As a result, there is a huge amount of waste in the system.

It is interesting that the Opposition have chosen this subject for debate, because you left this country very vulnerable—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

Order. That is the second time the hon. Lady has done this. She is not to refer to the Chair in that way. I have not done anything. She should refer to “the hon. Lady”. I certainly have nothing to do with fruit of any kind.

[Laura Sandys]

I do apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker.

To address the bigger problem of food insecurity, we should look to the energy model. This Government’s strategy on energy insecurity aims to manage a valuable resource, to address the waste in the system and to build greater UK resilience to international price fluctuations. With some tweaks, several of those policy mechanisms could and should be adopted for food. Security of supply is an example. The previous Government cannot claim much credit in that area. Imports of food increased by 52% under the previous Government and agricultural land was diverted away from production. Thank goodness, today we have Ministers who understand the issues of production.

To build greater security of supply, domestic production must, in my view, increase. We must build a hedging mechanism against global volatility and realise not only that food imports will become more expensive but that the level of imports, with a weak pound, is having a negative impact on our balance of payments and placing inflationary pressure on benefits and entitlements.

We must address food waste with a similar tenacity to that with which we are addressing energy waste through the green deal. We need to reverse the indulgent years that deskilled the consumer in food preparation and supported profligacy in the supply chain. Customers—we, the consumers—are often accused of being responsible for such waste, but I disagree. The system is designed to create waste and the consumer is merely responding to how the supermarkets and other retailers sell their products. The waste in procurement is terrifying and I hope that the grocery code of practice will ensure that we reduce some of it. As I have mentioned before, my campaign through Ugly Food is one way of addressing some of the waste embedded in our system.

Waste is also embedded in the design of consumer-facing products. The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello) talked about the packaging and presentation of food. People blame the customer, but is it their fault? Servings of food are often too big and processed foods are heavily advertised. Although the Government have made a great deal of progress on display dates, safety dates mislead the consumer about the longevity of products. Point-of-sale displays draw consumers to larger packages rather than smaller units of food and BOGOFs—buy one, get one free offers—neither help single item shoppers nor reduce the bills for family shoppers.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

Will my hon. Friend add an additional item to that long and rather depressing list, which is country of origin?

[Laura Sandys]

I believe that EU regulations are changing and that country of origin labelling will have to be much clearer, but we certainly have an issue with knowing and understanding exactly where food comes from and, when it comes to meat, where the animal was born rather than where it was reared.

Our system is designed around cheap disposable food and the UK, more than any other country other than the US, must embark on a culture change. We should re-engineer our food system to place value on food and to stop regarding it as disposable. That is why I am calling for a food security obligation—similar to the energy company obligation—for supermarkets and large food producers so that they record and reduce waste through their procurement process and commit to designing their products with the aim of delivering real value for money for the consumer, which is quite different from cheap food.

Both 2008 and 2011 were shocks to the system, but the price rises we have experienced will be the norm in the future. We had better get used to it. Food will not be cheap, but with the right policies in place, feeding our families need not be more expensive.