Speeches by Coleman.

“Can I ask the others? What is your relationship to Healthy Start? Do you take the vouchers? Do you offer top-ups? Would you offer top-ups if it was a paper-based voucher? Take Tesco, for example.”

“We still have a cost of living crisis. We have an affordability crisis.”

“Thank you all for coming. I would like to focus a little more on the affordability of healthy food. The Government have the Healthy Start scheme to support pregnant women and low-income families with small children. At one point, Sainsbury’s offered a £2 extra top-up to that scheme; have you stopped doing that?”

“Because?”

“If it moved back to being paper-based, you would still offer the £2 top-up.”

“If it came back as a voucher-based scheme, would you still offer the £1 top-up?”

“It is a hypothetical question—that is exactly what it is. If it came back as a paper—”

“I am talking about Healthy Start, and how you would support that if it was easier to do and not electronic.”

“If it came back as a voucher-based scheme, you would offer the £1 top-up.”

“Perhaps it is one for the nutritionists, because it is a general question.”

“So what would that mean? How could it be better? How could you do more and contribute more towards it if the scheme was reformulated—to use a popular word?”

“Sainsbury’s has said that if it goes paper-based, it will do a £2 top-up, and you have said, “Dunno.” What about you, Beth?”

“That’s fine. I think this is quite an important question. You have talked about your own products, but the control on branded products is less than on your own products, and you are all, with the possible exception of Aldi—from the research that we have done—moving towards a very intensive retail media push, and there …”

“But you have a financial incentive to take whichever brand pays you most, regardless of its nutritional content.”

“Good. The frustration of the Committee is that, when we are all here, we all have lots of questions. That is nice for you, because we do not drive as deeply as we might otherwise do. I am going to need to move on to something about advertising. Does the advertising of food and drink products increase the consumption of…”

“Take Asda first. If you advertise particular food and drink products, does it increase their consumption?”

“But it is products all over. If you read Chris van Tulleken’s book, it is very clear about the range of products that it is all added to.”

“You do not have data on that. As an expert of many years in the industry, you are not clear in your own mind whether it does or not.”

“Would you do a top-up if it was a voucher?”

“Thank you very much. We have this whole problem, as you can see. We are focusing on one aspect of affordability, but how can we make healthy food more accessible? What are you doing to make your basic ranges more accessible, in terms of both where they are sold and the price they are offered at? Maybe we could start wi…”