Access to healthy, nutritious and affordable food

On Monday 13 October 2025, the Equality and Social Justice Committee agreed to undertake a short inquiry into access to food. In particular the Committee wants to know how access to healthy, nutritious, and affordable food can be secured for all.

The Committee previously explored food poverty as part of its inquiry into debt and the rising cost of living in 2023. The Committee called for the Welsh Government to “adopt a more sustainable and preventative approach to tackling food poverty by supporting social enterprises which provide broader aims such as improving cookery skills in local communities and providing healthy meals”.

Terms of reference

The terms of reference for the inquiry are:

>>>>

>>>To what extent does the Welsh Government’s approach to tackling food poverty support provision of healthy and nutritious food for all, and what actions could it take to achieve this?

>>>What are the main barriers to addressing food poverty in a sustainable, preventative way that provides healthy and nutritious food for all, and how can these be overcome?

>>>Which examples of good practice successfully tackle food poverty by supporting provision of healthy and nutritious food? How should the Welsh Government and partners support this good practice to spread and scale?

>>>Does the Welsh Government’s approach to tackling food poverty sufficiently balance the need for emergency support with a preventative approach that provides sustainable, long-term solutions? If not, how should it do this?

<<<

The Committee agreed to gather evidence via a targeted consultation, oral evidence sessions with key stakeholders and engagement with organisations and individuals with direct experiences.

Oral evidence

The Committee held a formal oral evidence session on 19 January 2026.

The Committee held an online focus group with stakeholders on 2 February 2026.

The Senedd Commission’s Citizen Engagement Team has also carried out citizen engagement activities on behalf of the Committee. Full information of all engagement activities can be found in the summary of engagement.

The Committee held a formal oral evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice,Trefnydd and Chief Whip on 2 March 2026.

Written evidence

The Committee made a targeted call for evidence and received the following responses:

FP01 – Future Generations Commissioner

FP02 – Food Sense Wales

FP03 – Size of Wales

Additional written evidence was received from the following:

Welsh Government

Cadoxton School

Conwy Food Partnership

Fareshare Cymru

Sustain - Bridging The Gap Report