Delivering healthy, affordable, sustainable food for all Londoners

What the Mayor and partners have achieved so far:

Good food at home, and reducing food insecurity

• Supported ten boroughs to produce food poverty action plans, in partnership with Sustain.
• Published the first ever measure of food insecurity in London, which will support long-term solutions to the causes and impacts of food insecurity.
• Helping to address food insecurity during the summer holidays through the Kitchen Social programme, which annually provides 10,000 children with +50,000 meals that meet the School Food Standards.

Good food economy, shopping and eating out

• Introduced a world-leading Healthier Food Advertisement policy across the entire Transport for London estate.
• Supporting five London boroughs to develop Good Food Retail Plans, to improve access to fresh, healthy and affordable food, in partnership with Sustain.
• Supporting the Healthier Catering Commitment, in partnership with the Association of London Environmental Health Managers.

DID YOU KNOW: Haringey and Southwark have already adopted the TfL policy on their own advertising estate and other local authorities, UK and international cities are looking to replicate it.

Good food in community settings and public institutions

• Commissioning research into the food needs of low paid night workers in the health and social care sector, in order to improve the food offer for night workers.
• Commissioning research to understand the food needs of older and disabled groups in London, in light of cuts to social care budgets.

Good food for pregnancy and childhood

• Working with infant feeding experts to increase breastfeeding rates and make London a more baby friendly city.
• Working with 2,140 schools through the Mayor’s Healthy Schools London programme which incorporates and promotes healthy eating.
• Launched Healthy Early Years London, reaching over 30,000 under-fives in 1,384 early years settings to support healthy eating, exercise and social and emotional development.

Good food growing, community gardening and urban farming

• Supporting Capital Growth, a network of over 2,500 growing spaces, reaching over 150,000 Londoners
• Published a ‘next steps’ report to accelerate access to social prescribing, including ‘social’ prescriptions for fruit and veg and referrals to community food growing initiatives.

Good food for the environment

• Signed the C40 Good Food Cities Declaration, to reduce the food system’s consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions and build thriving, healthy and equitable communities.
• Partnered with Thames Water to install a network of over 100 drinking water fountains across London and supported the Refill London scheme, to reduce single-use plastic waste.
• Signed up as a Champion of Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, committing to a 50% reduction of food waste target by 2030.

Liam Weeks
Principal Policy Officer, Food Team
Greater London Authority
liam.weeks@london.gov.uk