On 24 March 2025, IEEP UK hosted a webinar on national food strategies and the lessons that can be learned from examples around the UK and Europe as the UK Government develops its new food strategy for England. 

Chaired by the BBC Food Programme’s Sheila Dillon, the event began with a presentation by Stephanie Wunder of Agora Agrar, which gave an overview of the results of an upcoming study looking at food policies within 11 European countries and examining the benefits of an integrated and food systems approach which IEEP UK has contributed to.

Charlie Brocard, Research Fellow at IDDRI – who co-authored the above study – then presented on French food policy, including insights on the country’s main food laws, plans and strategies, including the proposed new National Strategy for Food, Climate and Nutrition. Eduardo Montero Mansilla, Project and Campaigns Specialist at the Spanish Consumers and Users Federation (CECU), then spoke on Spain’s experiences with its new National Food Strategy, as well as its Food Chain and Food Waste Laws.

For the panel discussion section of the webinar, our three speakers were joined by Pete Ritchie, Executive Director of Nourish Scotland, spoke on the benefits and challenges of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, including the difficulties for the Scottish Government in making policy across traditional policy siloes and a lack of cross-departmental collaboration. Ben Reynolds, Executive Director of IEEP UK, also joined the panel, and underlined the importance of regulation as part of England’s new national food strategy after years of voluntary measures.

The webinar finished with a few words from Rachel Fisher, Deputy Director of Food Security & Coordination at Defra, who provided a brief update on progress with the development of England’s new National Food Strategy. Rachel noted that while the new Food Strategy Advisory Board is highly important in the strategy’s development, Defra will also be actively seeking input from other stakeholder groups, including academia and civil society, as it builds on and adds to Henry Dimbleby’s 2020 strategy.

With over 300 registrants, this was a popular and highly insightful session taking place at an important moment for food policy in England. You can access the full recording of the webinar below, or by following this link, and access the slides from the session in the downloads section below.