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 redistribute surplus food from the farmgate and across the supply chain to frontline food aid providers. (Paragraph 36) Response: The Government is committed to reducing and preventing food waste. To that end a holistic programme of action is in place to reduce and prevent food waste from the home and from business and includes helping to redistribute more surplus food from the food chain. The total amount of surplus food redistributed in the UK in 2018 was nearly 56,000 tonnes, almost doubling (a 96% increase) between 2015 and 2018. Since, 2018, the Department either directly or through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) awarded grants totalling over £11m to the redistribution sector. This includes nearly £4 million for not-for-profit organisations to carry out key redistribution activities such as storage and repackaging and redistributing to charities and / or end beneficiaries through the Covid-19 emergency food surplus food redistribution programme. The final grant award to the sector was made as recently as February 2021 for nearly £800k for a warehouse in London. Here, the Felix Project aims to double the organisation’s food surplus redistribution figures to 5,000 tonnes per year by 2023. Second Special Report of Session 2021–22 9 This award, and hundreds of other grants, are now providing the infrastructure such as vehicles, freezers and fridges to redistributors both large and small across the country to make sure more surplus food goes to those who have a need in the months and years to come. We are monitoring the return on this investment and are now beginning to see the results with a significant increase in surplus food redistributed predicted in the next set of survey results for 2020 due in May. There are no plans at the present time to tender further grant opportunities (and no funds allocated in the 21/22 financial year to do so) but we continue to work with the sector and the supply chain to break down the barriers to redistribution. This includes developing new resources, such as updating labelling guidance, to make it easier for businesses and redistributors alike to form partnerships and to redistribute more. The redistribution sector wants to see a greater focus on businesses making food surplus available. To that end we are working closely with partners such as WRAP and the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) and across the supply chain to highlight the opportu