Responding to Coronavirus put most of the UK governments plans on hold from Brexit negotiations through to the National Food Strategy. This week, Henry Dimbleby announced that work has re-commenced in bringing together everything needed for the national food strategy.
Building on the recent agriculture bill, the strategy is intended to provide overarching strategy for government to tie together actions across many departments. Aims of the strategy are to provide safe, healthy and affordable food in a resilient system.
Under coronavirus, work on the strategy was paused until Monday, when Dimbleby announced a return to his desk. Details of his tweet suggested that a new perspective could be adopted given the way food systems have been impacted over recent weeks. Resilience of the food system has taken a new meaning as shocks through the supply chain have resulted in empty shelves and vulnerable people struggling to get food.
After a brief hiatus, it’s time to get going again on this. Urgently. Huge questions being posed by this crisis: about food security – national and individual – and diet related health. Issues are much more complex than the current public debate would suggest. pic.twitter.com/T4esTj6mLL
— Henry Dimbleby (@HenryDimbleby) May 4, 2020
This comes in the same week that new research from Food Research Collaboration revealed that sixteen different government departments are involved in food policy making. Evidence of this scattered approach to managing food in government only strengthens the need for coordination across government, now and in the future.
