Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 2 February 2021.
Thank you, First Minister for that answer. We've all seen the photos of cut-up carrots and peppers, which were supposed to be sufficient for making five lunches for free-school-meal families in England, and I'm sure you would share my shock that private companies have been permitted to charge £30 for such utterly inadequate food parcels. In contrast, all free-school-meals children in Cardiff have the security of vouchers to the value of nearly £20, which they can spend in the local supermarket of their choice.
The pandemic has unfortunately exposed how poor diets translate into poor health and makes disadvantaged families so much more likely to catch and die of COVID than families who can afford nourishing food, and that situation is not helped by the disruption to everyday foods imported from the EU. The green recovery action plan devised by Sir David Henshaw and others has some excellent ideas for tackling our insecure food system, including urban agriculture where it's most needed, increasing the number of people who know how to grow food, and connecting growers with local markets. But having spoken to the head of the Trussell Trust in Wales, it's unclear whether this will be sufficient to stem the rise and rise of families needing to turn to foodbanks in these incredibly difficult times. What role can the Welsh Government play, either through its own procurement policies or other strategies, to tackle the food insecurity and poor diet that coronavirus has exposed as such a major contributor to chronic ill health and vulnerability to disease?