- Government must act urgently to support businesses supplying
pubs and restaurants
The Government must recognise the impact of hospitality's
closure on the sector's suppliers, and
act urgently to support the supply chain. Noting the greater
risks for small businesses, a new report from
the House of Commons EFRA Committee calls on Ministers to provide
additional funding to food and drink wholesalers and
suppliers, who have not received the level of financial
support offered to the pubs, bars and cafes that rely on them.
The report, which follows the publication of the Committee's July
2020 Covid-19
and Food Supply report, analyses the six months from August
2020, in which the hospitality sector was subject to two national
lockdowns and an array of local restrictions. Addressing both the
food supply chain and food insecurity, the report also highlight
the almost 1 in 10 households who have, during the two most
recent national lockdowns, experienced food
poverty, and again urges the Government to appoint a new
Minster for Food Security and consult on a
national 'right to food' in England.
The report, can be found here.
The Committee recommend:
- In anticipation of hospitality reopening on April 12th, the
Government must urgently recognise the impact of the sector's
closure on its suppliers. Additional financial support should be
provided to hospitality suppliers, particularly small businesses,
during the period of reopening.
- The Government should provide ongoing support to charities
working to distribute surplus food from the farm gate to
frontline food aid providers.
- With the number of people experiencing food insecurity likely
to have worsened because of lockdowns, the Government should
conduct an annual food security report, sustaining this frequency
until the combined economic fallout of covid-19 and Brexit has
passed.
- A new Minister for Food Security should be appointed to work
cross-departmentally, ensuring that everyone, and especially the
most vulnerable, has access to enough affordable nutritious food.
The Government must also consult on a legal 'right to food' in
its White Paper responding to the National Food
Strategy, due early this summer.
- In the event of another lockdown, the Government should
ensure that families with children eligible for free school meals
continue to be able to feed their children. The report also calls
on the Government to learn from the unacceptable food parcels
provided by some suppliers in January, and ensure that 'any
future offering is consistently up to standard'.
- The Government must call on retailers to 'recognise their
responsibility' to assist clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV)
people to access food if advised to shield, including the removal
of delivery charges and minimum online spends for them. The
report also raises concerns about people with disabilities who
are unable to access online food delivery, recommending that
Government ensures they receive the assistance they need.
Retailers must also ensure that efforts to make their stores
“covid secure” do not exclude people with disabilities.
, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Select Committee, said:
"When pubs, bars and restaurants closed, their
suppliers’ market evaporated overnight. They have worked
admirably to pivot to new customers, but many businesses,
particularly small ones, are struggling to survive. We are all
looking forward to hospitality beginning to re-open on Monday,
but the reality is that without support for their suppliers, many
venues may struggle.
"The Government must act now to provide additional
help for suppliers. If its supply chain collapses the money the
hospitality sector has received to get them through lockdown will
have been wasted.
"There must also be recognition of the tremendous
momentum gathered during the crisis to keep the most vulnerable
in our society fed. This must be sustained. For the second time
in a year, our Committee urge the Government to appoint a new
Minister to address food security in the UK."
