Since the start of the pandemic, Government departments have come together to coordinate support for the most vulnerable. For example, the Food to the Vulnerable Ministerial Taskforce was set up in Spring 2020 to respond to some of the initial challenges of Covid-19, for a limited time and with a defined remit. The taskforce’s membership spanned Departments across government including Housing, Communities and Local Government, Work and Pensions, and Ministers from the Devolved Administrations. The taskforce was instrumental in putting in place support for the most vulnerable individuals. This included: • £63 million for the Local Authority Grant Scheme, delivered by Defra with support from MHCLG, to enable Local Authorities to provide further support for individuals struggling to afford food and essential items; • £10.5 million to the food redistributor FareShare; • £1.8 million to the Covid-19 emergency food redistribution scheme, delivered by Defra and the Waste and Resources Action Programme; • £3.4 million to support individual charities through the Food Charity Grant Scheme. Defra, DfE, DWP and DHSC also worked together on the Covid Winter Support Package in November 2020 – ensuring that we could provide support to those impacted by the pandemic throughout the winter period. This principle of cross-departmental collaboration will guide us as we recover from the pandemic. Through the priority outcomes that accompanied the 2020 Spending Review, departments committed to working together to deliver a number of cross-cutting outcomes. Those outcomes include addressing poverty through enabling progression into the workforce and increasing financial resilience. DWP is leading this outcome, working with HMT, DFE and MHCLG, and others as necessary, including Defra. Conclusion and Recommendation 9: We agree that enshrining principles in law is not a “silver bullet”, however, giving the “right to food” a legislative footing would drive action on food insecurity across Whitehall and Government. We therefore recommend that the Government should consult on how a “right to food” could be implemented in England as part of its White Paper following the publication of the National Food Strategy. We appreciate that the right to daily nutritious food as part of a national food strategy will need to consider the need for people to have food security along with other essential needs. (Paragraph 34) Response: We are committed to helping people with the cost of living and providing a safety net for those that need it through our well-established social security systems. The level of support that this Government has put in place throughout the Covid-19 pandemic such as the Winter Grant and furlough scheme reflect this. 8 Second Special Report of Session 2021–22 Part One of Henry Dimbleby’s independent review of the food system was published on 29 July 2020 and contained recommendations relating to the Covid-19 pandemic and preceding the end of the transition period. Several of these recommendations were aimed at addressing food insecurity, including the expansion of the Holiday Activities and Food programme and increasing the value of the Healthy Start vouchers, which the Government has already acted on. His second and final report is due later this year. Having already taken steps to adopt some of the recommendations from the first report, we look forward to considering recommendations made in the second. Since 1976, the United Kingdom has recognised the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 11 notes “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food”, and seeks “to improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources”; and “taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.” The Covenant is not incorporated into domestic law, as the Covenant does not require States Parties to do so. The Government considers that its method of implementation of the Covenant fulfils the UK’s obligations under Article 2(1). The UK is also committed to delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals, including on ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture and on ending poverty in all its forms everywhere. Conclusion and Recommendation 10: Food redistribution helps to provide nutritious food to those who might not otherwise have access to it, as well as minimising waste. We reiterate our recommendation that the Government should provide ongoing funding to FareShare and other charities, so they can continue to redistri