Written Evidence Submitted by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CFSF0021)
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Written evidence submitted by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CFSF0021) 1. How the pandemic and the Government’s response to it have affected food supply since July 2020; Since July 2020 we have not seen the scarcity of food and disruption to supply that characterised the early days of pandemic when central government and councils had to step in to source and distribute supplies of food. Prior to this supply was unreliable and disrupted. Delivery options were limited and where they existed, were almost impossible to access for new customers. The impact on the local foodbank network was clear with sharply rising demand to the end of May. Since July 2020, upscaling of delivery and a restored supply chain both locally and nationally have resulted in the early challenges being largely addressed. Locally our third sector were supported to increase their offer through council distribution and commissioning of support through a combination of additional funding from the council and central government funding. See Appendix 1 for preliminary findings of an audit of the local third sector COVID-food response August-November 2020. Analysis of data from 20 foodbanks shows that food bank usage by some Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities remained lower than expected at some locations throughout summer 2020, although all foodbanks had established a vegetarian and often a specific Halal option. In contrast the central hub for the DEFRA food offer received more requests from BAME communities, possibly suggesting that some local provision may not yet be perceived as fully inclusive of needs. Further actions taken by the Feeding Bradford and Keighley network and individual organisations to address this included. Work with foodbanks to improve food offers. One example is pairing a main foodbank with a community centre to improve their Halal food pick list, and then share the list with other food banks. Outreach to food banks and food providers via mosques. In one of the District’s main towns the foodbank partnered with a local mosque to form Keighley Food Relief Team (comprising three mosques and three Muslim-led charities). Working through council ward officers and the Race Equality Network to publicise support available to new food banks and food providers including those from BAME communities. Demand for crisis food support has risen again through the autumn and is expected to continue to rise. We anticipate that more people will experience food poverty through much of 2021, maintaining the high level of demand on the local food system. Data collection A third sector organisation was commissioned as a central point of supply to food banks. Their data shows over 14,000 items provided to ten of the smaller food banks during October – December 2020. Foodbanks still rely a lot on donated food, although some are less reliant on donations, for example those with national infrastructure with established links to national retailers or well established donation routes and collection points via faith organisations, businesses and the public. Figure one below shows that demand on foodbanks started to climb steadily in late September, bringing the number of food days provided in the 4 weeks to the 18th December back to almost twice the baseline level of demand in February 2020. The graph shows standardised data for ‘people days fed’ rather than number of food parcels as food parcel size varies from 3 to 7 days across different providers. It will be important to strike a balance between encouraging resilience and self- reliance in local food systems and ensuring that the crisis food system can withstand any short-term spikes in demand during the remainder of the pandemic. 2. What impact the current lockdown is having on food supply; Food supply remains good in Bradford District, we are not experiencing significant disruption to supplies. However Figure 1 above demonstrated the current increase in demand for food. This is likely to relate to a number of factors – one of which is a clear increase in the cost of food which can add significantly to the basket cost for families, many of who are also in fuel poverty. This will impact on low-income households including those who are on benefits, reduced hours/ wages or furlough The significant remaining challenges are; Providing an instant or rapid delivery option for households told to self-isolate. Access to DEFRA Shopping slots is welcome but does not provide same or next day delivery. In this gap households and families are leaving home to buy food, potentially increasing infection levels. Supporting food banks to be able to deliver. The logistics of this are difficult to put in place safely. Volunteers tend to be in vulnerable categories themselves. We are starting to hear that the new more transmissible variant has placed additional anxiety on volunteers. This means that a free food offer for those self-isolating is currently proving more difficult to deliver – even when the supply of food can be resourced and maintained. The rising cost of food is placing pressure on families alongside increased fuel costs making it vitally important that the increase in the Universal Credit rate is maintained. The new context of further lockdown in response to the very high rate of cases, increasing deaths and pressure on the NHS, together with the new highly transmissible variant of the virus causing a significant proportion of cases locally mean it is imperative that people are able to stay home and minimise contacts, whilst still having reliable access to food. Current issues relate to: Rapid access to home delivery to enable self-isolation and general reduction in contacts. Increased food costs alongside higher fuel costs whilst more people are working from home, home-schooling and/or again needing to self-isolate, particularly during the recent period of extreme cold Getting a clear picture of whether all children who are out of school during the current lockdown have enough good quality food to eat, particularly those who are entitled to Free School Meals, but also children who do not have FSM entitlement but live in very low-income households. Our COVID winter grant has been used to fund work with schools to support children in families in receipt of Free School Meals, to respond to ‘weekend’ hunger and to open a small grants programme to support a wider range of community organisations to provide food to vulnerable people and people experiencing disruption to income. Our education service is leading work to plan and extend our usual holiday hunger response for the rest of 2021. Locally we aim to continue funding support food banks and other forms of crisis food provision, on a model of gradually reducing the level of funding for food support during 2021-22 in order to encourage a phased return to self- sufficiency. In the event that the current rise in demand has flattened by April 2021, we aim to support the development and scaling up of new models of affordable food supply, to build future resilience to food poverty and reduce pressure on crisis-led food support, in line with the developing Food Strategy for Bradford District. 3. What further actions the Government, public bodies and industry need to take. Work with national food retailers to ensure they once again increase access to online deliveries and have an appropriate form and level of priority access to home delivery for those who are isolating, and potentially to NHS/care workers in frontline roles given the very high demand on them. Assess and address the ongoing needs and increased costs of low-income households who are unemployed or furloughed and home schooling, to enable them to continue to comply with government guidance. Ensure that households and communities have good information about local sources of food support. In Bradford District every postcode area has a foodbank assigned, to reduce distance travelled and make access easier for the public and referrers. www.bradfordfoodbanks.org.uk. Monitor and plan how to offset potential impact of Brexit on food supply lines during the ongoing crisis level food response, for example to ensure there is no repeat of panic buying, and the impact on food costs given the particular vulnerability of large numbers of households to relatively small price increases. Ending government funded employment support schemes at some point over the next year may trigger an increase in redundancies and a further rise in the unemployment rate. The impact of this will need to be anticipated and planned for between central government and local areas. Further postpone eviction proceedings to reduce churn in the rented housing market, to avoid further financial pressure and potential disruption to family life and children’s education. Consider further action and investment in fuel poverty measures given the length of time children are likely to remain out of school (as of 27th January announcement) and the higher fuel costs for households due to the current prolonged cold spell. Government can encourage local areas to develop a tailored response to groups and communities who have been particularly vulnerable to the impact of COVID. Appendix 1 Key points from Bradford Institute of Health Research review of food sector response to COVID-19 in Bradford District August-November 2021 ● A rapid mapping exercise and survey, undertaken between August and November 2020, identified 169 community food assets operating in the Bradford District, of which 139 remained operational throughout the first lockdown period (March to June 2020). ● 59 food aid services were newly set up during the first lockdown period, of which 79% delivered food (prepared meal or food parcels). ● Services categorised as emergency assistance (e.g., food banks, food delivery services and soup runs (n=116 (83%)) were more common during the first lockdown than services providing non-emergency assistance with food e.g., community cafes (n=23) (17%)).