Speeches by Coleman.

“Which bit of NHS England?”

“Who is “we”?”

“It is very good to see all of you. Mr James, can I start talking to you? I should say, Chair, that I had the pleasure of visiting the sickle cell emergency department bypass unit at St Mary’s Hospital recently. I talked to patients there and I was very impressed by what they told me about the support they were receivin…”

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

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

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

“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?”

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

“I get that, but you have your Finest range, and it is the “finest”. If we look at your RAG rating, it is red for fat, saturates and salt. It is even worse with your basic rating, as it is high in fat, saturates and salt, and it is medium in sugars. Can somebody explain to me why we need palm oil and so much salt in pro…”

“Two of you are nutritionists. When you add salt and palm oil to food, why does it enable you to bring the price down?”

“I am not quite clear on how it works. I went on to Tesco’s website, and I looked at the chicken masala. You have your basic chicken masala, and you then have your Finest chicken masala, and there is £1 difference in price—the basic is £3.85 and the Finest is £4.85. The cheaper one has slightly less chicken—it is 18% ve…”

“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.”

“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…”

“At the same price?”

“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…”

“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.”

“Thank you. What about your position at Aldi?”

“Is it genuinely worth us going back to the Government and saying, “If you don’t insist on it being on a credit card, but you make it paper-based, the supermarkets will look at topping it up”? Yes, no, or maybe?”

“And if it was a paper voucher, would you then match Sainsbury’s and offer £2 on top, or £1 even?”