Mayor of Newham launches expert-led ‘Young People and Food Security’ initiative as next step in the fight to stamp out food poverty in Newham

As part of ongoing plans to address poverty and inequality in Newham, Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE has today announced (January 20, 2021) the launch of an expert-led food security initiative to stamp out food poverty facing children and young people in the borough.

Building on the raft of measures put in place to support Newham children and families during the Covid-19 pandemic, valued at over £6 million to date, and the Council’s ‘Towards a Better Newham’ recovery action plan; the Mayor has unveiled further plans to address the impact of poverty facing young people in the Borough, including holiday hunger.

With input from world-renowned experts and £20,000 initial funding from the Health Foundation, the UK’s leading health promotion charity, the ‘Young People and Food Security’ initiative will work with children, young people and their families to map the scale of food security challenges facing households in Newham. The work of the experts will shape a new strategy and programme of interventions to tackle holiday hunger facing young people which will be launched in summer 2021.

The ‘Young People and Food Security’ initiative, will build on the £6 million annual investment the Council makes in the Eat for Free programme which supports the health and well-being of all primary school children in Newham; and reflects the ambition of Mayor Fiaz to address poverty facing Newham’s young people across all age groups. The new initiative announced today follows Mayor Fiaz’s guarantee earlier this week that the Eat for Free scheme will continue to benefit all primary school children regardless of their backgrounds.

Experts from the Association for Young People’s Health will work alongside health inequality specialist, Professor Natalie Savona from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; as well as Steven Allender, Professor of Public Health and founding Director of the Global Obesity Centre (GLOBE) at Deakin University in Melbourne. Their work will feed into policy proposals and interventions being developed by a working group of Cabinet members, Councillors and Council officers established by Mayor Fiaz last year to develop an action plan to support families at risk, or facing, food insecurity in Newham.

Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz OBE, said:

‘Covid-19 has shone a light on the long-standing disadvantage faced by many families in Newham. Its why under my administration, we have invested millions to tackle poverty and inequality in the borough. More and more residents and young people are suffering hardship because of the pandemic and that’s why we continue to invest money to support residents, workers and local businesses.

Through this crisis, we’ve already spent over £6 million supporting families with food and other essential household items. This includes stamping out the scourge of hunger facing our young people with over 27,037 children and young people supported through our Newham Food Alliance and Holiday Food Voucher programmes. Covid-19 has revealed the stark reality and scale of food poverty in Newham. We have a moral duty to address this, and that’s why earlier this week I guaranteed the Eat for Free programme to all primary school children in the borough, regardless of their background.

But we must go further and as we start this year that we’ve designated as the Newham Year of the Young Person, I am pleased to announce this new ‘Young People and Food Security’ initiative. Working hand-in-hand with leading health experts and our children, young people and families we’ll develop a comprehensive package of interventions as part of a wider food security strategy that we will get ready to be launched this summer.

“We’ve already made clear that our economic success as a borough will be measured by the health, wellbeing and happiness of our residents, and the ‘Young People and Food Security’ initiative is an important contribution to that effort because our youngsters deserve it.