1.The response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK has included: advice for people with symptoms to self-isolate; advice for clinically extremely vulnerable people to shield (stay at home at all times); and a period of “lockdown” where people were required to stay home except for essential shopping and exercise, combined with the closure of foodservice businesses such as restaurants, pubs and cafés.1 At time of publication, the Government had started reopening the economy.2
2.The actions taken by the Government to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in the population affected food supply, not least because of the changed needs of consumers. In the weeks prior to the announcement of the national lockdown, this resulted in widespread scenes of empty shelves in supermarkets.3 We were therefore concerned about whether the food sector had effective and resilient food supply chains in the face of measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic.4 On Tuesday 24 March, the day after lockdown started, we held a teleconference with the Rt Hon George Eustice MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to discuss increased consumer demand in supermarkets and potential labour shortages in key areas.5 We subsequently announced an inquiry on COVID-19 and food supply on 3 April 2020, with the following terms of reference:
a)Have the measures announced by the Government to mitigate the disruptions to the food supply chain caused by the pandemic been proportionate, effective and timely?
b)Are the Government and food industry doing enough to support people to access sufficient healthy food; and are any groups not having their needs met? If not, what further steps should the Government and food industry take?
c)What further impacts could the current pandemic have on the food supply chain, or individual elements of it, in the short to medium-term and what steps do industry, consumers and the Government need to take to mitigate them?
d)How effectively has the Government worked with businesses and NGOs to share information on disruptions to the supply chain and other problems, and to develop and implement solutions? How effectively have these actions been communicated to the public?6
We received over 150 written submissions and took oral evidence from businesses in the food supply chain, food aid organisations, charities, academics and Defra. Officials from Defra and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) briefed us in private on 22 April. We also conducted an online public survey from 9 to 28 April, asking whether people had experienced difficulties accessing food.7 Over 5,500 people responded to our survey, the results of which are summarised in Annex A. We would like to thank everyone who contributing to our inquiry by submitting evidence, providing briefing and sharing their personal experiences of accessing food.
3.The response to COVID-19 and its effects on food supply and demand have evolved as our inquiry progressed, and therefore our inquiry was supplemented by regular correspondence with the Government to ensure key issues were immediately drawn to its attention.8 Our Report is intended to inform future Government and industry action, both in response to the current pandemic and future disruptions to food supply. The Report starts with the first visible effect of the pandemic on food: increased consumer demand in shops before and during lockdown (Chapter 1). Chapter 2 examines personal food insecurity. Chapter 3 looks at the impact of closing and reopening the foodservice and hospitality sectors and Chapter 4 focuses on key workers in the food supply chain. Chapter 5 contains our assessment of the Government’s preparedness for the crisis and our overall conclusions on resilience and food security.
4.During our inquiry, we took evidence on seasonal agricultural labour, amidst concerns that travel restrictions would prevent the usual numbers of migrant workers, who do such work, from coming to the UK.9 However, these matters will be addressed in our separate inquiry on labour in the food supply chain.10
1 GOV.UK, ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance and support’, accessed 15 July 2020
2 GOV.UK, ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance and support’, accessed 15 July 2020
3 For example, “Retired seaman, 79, pictured by empty supermarket shelves says coronavirus panic-buying ‘worse than living through WW2’”, The Sun, 20 March 2020
4 Cabinet Office, Public Summary of Sector Security and Resilience Plans 2018, February 2019, p 17
6 “Inquiry on food supply during the Coronavirus pandemic launched”, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee news story, 3 April 2020
7 “MPs launch online survey into coronavirus and access to food”, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee news story, 9 April 2020
8 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, ‘COVID-19 and food supply: All correspondence’, accessed 15 July 2020
10 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, ‘Labour in the food supply chain’, accessed 15 July 2020
Published: 30 July 2020