Received from: BDA
Congress notes that:
i. evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic shows England’s Public Health Nutrition (PHN) system is underfunded, fragmented and unable to meet need, as reported by frontline staff.
ii. austerity and market-based policies have weakened PHN services, increasing hunger, worsening nutrition related health and widening inequalities.
iii. eighty-seven per cent of PHN professionals reported that austerity related cuts had severe, or moderate to severe, impacts (Noonan-Gunning et al, 2021).
iv. responsibility for food security has shifted from the state to the voluntary sector and unpaid labour, creating a postcode lottery and exposing system failures during the pandemic that impact wider determinants of health.
v. the lack of a national food strategy and effective governance undermined the response to Covid-19 and risks weakening future responses.
Congress believes that:
a. food and nutrition security is a fundamental right and a core responsibility of the state
b. charity cannot replace a properly funded public system
c. a paid, skilled PHN and public health dietetics workforce is essential to public health and social justice.
Congress calls on the TUC to campaign for:
1. restoration and ringfencing of PHN funding by central government
2. a national food and nutrition strategy, including workforce capacity and capability
3. the right to food to be enshrined in UK law
4. an end to marketisation and the normalisation of unpaid labour in food provision
5. secure, unionised employment, training and recognition for food and nutrition workers, including work with affiliates to explore organising in emergency food aid and the community food sector.
British Dietetic Association