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The Food Foundation Podcast
A Hostile Environment: An asylum seeker's Christmas
In this episode, we’re at the front line of food insecurity as we visit some of the food banks feeding migrants and asylum seekers who don’t have recourse to public funds this Christmas.
We’re looking at the key findings of a new report by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire and commissioned by the Food Foundation. It shows a pretty bleak Christmas for over a million migrants and asylum seekers waiting for their legal status to be approved.
The Food Foundation wants the Healthy Start food voucher scheme to be made permanent, and to actively promote access to it among families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
We want the Government to provide local authorities with the resources they need to ensure families with no recourse to public funds to get the support they need. And that includes accommodation with adequate kitchen and cooking facilities for asylum seekers. And we want the govt to collect data to establish real levels of food insecurity among families and individuals with NRPF.
Listen to why it matters with Claire Thompson at University of Hertfordshire, Ray Woolford from We Care at Kath's Place, Juliet Sekitoleko at Brighton Minority and Ethnic Community Partnership
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41. Pod Bites: Climate shocks and food prices
06:17||Season 24, Ep. 41Pete Smith, Professor of Global Change and Soils at the University of Aberdeen tells us about the Climate Inflation Project on how climate change affects food inflation causing food price spikes around the world, and how that affects people. Click here for more information on the project, here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.40. 250,000 reasons to fix school food
26:22||Season 24, Ep. 40Keira, one of the young food ambassadors at the Food Foundation, is with a panel of experts to find out about Auto Enrolment on Free School Meals. They explore how it can help the 250,000 children who are entitled to a free school meals but are missing out because of the barriers to registering.Professor Maria Bryant, researcher on Fix Our Food, the University of York's five-year research programme is joined by Myles Bremner, CEO of Bremner and co and a partner on the project, Peter Lamb MP, Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Deputy Chair of the Children and Young People's board at the Local Government Association and Rhett, a single father who reports from the front line of food poverty.Click on the links for more information on Fix our Food, the Food Foundation Manifesto and to sign up for the newsletter.39. Pod Bites: Corporate lobbying in food
10:00||Season 24, Ep. 39Sarah Buszard, Responsible Investor Engagement Lead at the Food Foundation explains the findings of our latest report, Corporate Lobbying: The Dark Side of the Plate. Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.38. Pod Bites: The Spring Statement
10:17||Season 24, Ep. 38Hannah Brinsden, head of policy and advocacy at the Food Foundation reflects on the Spring Statement, how it could impact on food insecurity and what some of the opportunities are in the next few months to try and address this problem. Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.37. Pod Bites: Child poverty in Wales
09:25||Season 24, Ep. 37In this week's Pod Bites, Callum Morrissey , a 15-year-old Welsh Youth Parliament member of Clwyd West and young ambassador for the Food Foundation, discusses the Youth Parliament's efforts to tackle child poverty in Wales.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.36. Pod Bites: Superpowers launch in parliament
08:03||Season 24, Ep. 36On this week's Pod Bite, we hear about the launch of two reports on the accessibility of healthy food for children.As part of the Feed the Future campaign, The Food Foundation hosted a special event at Central Hall in Westminster this week to showcase the benefits of Free School Meals has on academic attainment levels, school food quality, food insecurity, obesity, behaviour, school attendance, and local economies.Policy and Advocacy Manager at the Food Foundation, Shona Goudie tells us about the launch of the Superpower of Free School Meals report at the event, while Barnardo's head of Policy and Public Affairs Alesha de Freitas gives us the highlights of its Nourishing the Future report.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.35. World Obesity Day 2025
33:45||Season 24, Ep. 35On World Obesity Day, Anna Taylor, Executive Director at the Food Foundation leads a panel discussion on the systems that need to be in place to enable people to maintain a healthy weight and prevent obesity. With Kat Jenner, head of the Obesity Health Alliance, Dr Sophie Harris, consultant in diabetes in general medicine, Dr Stuart Flint, Associate Professor of the Psychology of Obesity at the University of Leeds and Penny Walters, adult ambassador for the Food Foundation who campaigns for a change in the food system. Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.34. Pod Bites: What's happening with food prices?
06:11||Season 24, Ep. 34Tilda Ferree, Senior Advocacy and Policy Officer at the Food Foundation tell us about the latest Food Foundation's Food Insecurity Survey. Click here for more information on the report.Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.33. Pod Bites: Baby formula concerns
11:17||Season 24, Ep. 33Dr Hannah Brinsden, Head of Policy and Advocacy at the Food Foundation tells us about a new report from the Competition Markets Authority discussing pricing and access to infant formula. Click here for the Food Foundation Manifesto and here to sign up for the newsletter.