Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Paragraph: 17
It is entirely reasonable and predictable that consumers would want to buy more food in...
Recommendation
It is entirely reasonable and predictable that consumers would want to buy more food in anticipation of a lockdown, the need to self-isolate if they developed COVID-19 symptoms; or school closures and changed working patterns resulting in more meals eaten at home. The Government and retailers, including convenience stores, failed to develop an effective joint communications plan in anticipation of increased consumer demand. At a time when the public was looking to the Government for advice on how to live safely, we consider that the Government could have made more effort to provide reassurances. In the event of further lockdowns or restrictions, the Government should ensure that more emphasis is placed on reassuring the public that there will be enough food and essential supplies for everyone.
Paragraph Reference:
17
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The Government worked closely with supermarkets to develop and share messaging that aimed to help consumers understand the resilient nature of our food supply chains and the impact of their own actions when shopping on others. We worked with retailers and the food and drink industry to continuously adapt and promote messaging as the situation developed. Representatives of supermarkets used this shared messaging to call on customers to shop considerately at the height of the pandemic and retailers also proactively disseminated this message directly to their customers. We echoed this call through government led communications. While it was important to get the right messages out to consumers, the content of these messages and the route to delivery had to be carefully considered. We worked with industry representatives to ensure that government communications were informed by the same consumer insight and recommendations. Research into consumer behaviour shows that proactively highlighting issues with food supply or panic buying behaviour is more likely to exacerbate the negative consumer behaviours like stockpiling and panic buying that the communications are seeking to help avoid. Evidence also shows that industry voices are often best placed to provide the expert commentary needed to demonstrate the resilience of the supply chain and to reassure the public that if we all shop considerately there is enough to go around. At the peak of the episode, however, we took the decision to make a direct appeal as part of the televised national press conference, for people to think of others and to only buy what was needed. We also used this opportunity to reach a wide audience to clearly communicate what we, as government were doing to help alleviate the operational situation and support the industry as it quickly responded to unprecedented demand. This included highlighting that we relaxed competition laws to allow retailers to work together to keep shops open and stocked and we worked with local authorities to extend delivery hours to supermarkets so that shelves could be replenished more quickly. We are working with the industry to learn from the COVID-19 response and adapt our approach to future episodes. We will use the experience gained from the unprecedented situation we faced in March 2020, to tailor our communications and how we work with industry to deliver better aligned and joined up communications in response to similar scenarios in the future.