well good afternoon and today I'm joined
by Stephan Pires from NHS England and
Helen Dickinson from the British Retail
Consortium and I wanted to take this
opportunity to provide you with an
update on the food supply chain and the
steps that we are all taking to ensure
that everyone has access to the food
that they need we recognize that this is
a challenging time and there are many
things that the government is asking the
nation to do differently as we work
together to fight this pandemic however
there is one message I want to start
with loud and clear this afternoon which
is be responsible when you shop and
think of others buying more than you
need means that others may be left
without and it is making life more
difficult for those frontline workers
such as our doctors and nurses and NHS
support staff who are working so hard in
such difficult circumstances so as you
shop think of those who are finishing
their late shifts and need to pop to the
local shop at the end of a long day
today the Prime Minister and I have
spoken to the retail sector there is
more than enough food to go around and
our food supply chain is able to expand
production to cope with increased demand
in the last week sales of some foods
have increased significantly and
manufacturers have produced around 50%
more food than they usually would there
is no shortage of food available and
more is arriving at shops every day but
the challenge that all of our retailers
have faced is keeping shelves stocked
throughout the day in the face of
increased purchasing behavior we all
have a role to play in ensuring that we
come through this together so the
government has taken steps to set aside
rules restricting delivery to stores and
relaxed restrictions on drug government
guard driver hours so that more Goods
can be delivered to every store every
day and we have also set aside
competition rules so that supermarkets
can coordinate their efforts locally
sharing staff sharing delivery vehicles
and coordinating their store opening
times to ensure that food reaches every
part of the country
we've also waived the plastic bag charge
and on on offer online purchases to
speed up deliveries our retailers and
food producers who supply them are
working around the clock to keep shelf
stopped and the nation fed supermarkets
are recruiting more staff protecting
shopping time for older and vulnerable
people and limiting shopping hours so
they have more time to restock and I
want to take this opportunity to thank
all those staff working in our
supermarkets and food businesses up and
down the country today who are doing so
much to deliver such a crucial service
to us all but as the Prime Minister has
said many times we need every citizen of
this country to play their part too
some supermarkets have put in place
purchase limits on some items to ensure
that there is fair trading and that
their shelves remain stopped for longer
everyone must respect such measures and
respect the staff working in these shops
who are doing their best to ensure that
both you and your neighbors get the food
supplies that you need thank you thank
you I'm just to pick up on a couple of
points there firstly I mean you don't
need you don't need me to tell you about
the Weber sort of levels of
unprecedented demand that we've all seen
and I really wanted to just reassure
everybody that people right across the
food industry from growers Packers
producers distributors drivers and the
people right at the front line in our
stores are doing everything they can to
make sure that we have the food food
that we all need and it's almost like
we're seeing basically a peak in demand
like Christmas without the four month
buildup in in planning that you would
normally have in advance and we've been
able to do that in two weeks there is
plenty of food in the supply chain the
issue is around people and Laurie so
getting that food right into the front
line on to our shelves which is why
we've seen shortages in some areas
across across lots of different
different lines in different different
areas of the country
what's been vital over the last few days
is the dialogue that we've had with
government they really listened
carefully to the things that people
across the industry have highlighted
that would make it easier to to increase
capacity they've the they're the key is
I guess not just that listening but
being able to act quickly and and
George's highlighted there a couple of
things I mean for example lifting curfew
hours for deliveries has enabled much
more lorries to get through the supply
chain and into stores more quickly and
there's a whole list of things where
we've raised an issue and it's been
addressed quickly and I think that is
going to be vital as we go forward over
the over the coming few weeks and I
think the you know the food retailers
that I'm talking to every on every day
and on the call with the Prime Minister
earlier really wanted to undermine
underline that message about you know in
encouraging everybody to really be
considerate in what they buy make sure
that they only buy what they need there
is there is a billion pounds more food
in people's houses than there was three
weeks ago so we should make sure we yeah
we eat some of it and be considerate and
also think about other people right
across your communities and how we can
all help them in making sure that they
can pick up and get their shopping and
so I think it's much more about how we
all work together to to rise to the
challenges that we're facing thank you
thank you so I would just like to make a
plea on behalf of all my colleagues in
the NHS nurses doctors paramedics and
many many others who are working
incredibly hard at the moment to manage
this outbreak of coronavirus are now
preparing for the surge that they know
will be coming at them it's incredibly
important that they to have access to
food to those essential supplies that
they need I'm sure many of you will have
seen a video posted on social media
yesterday by Dawn a critical-care knows
who was in tears at the end of a long
shift because she could not get access
to the supplies that she needed and
rightly we should all be ashamed that
that has to happen it's unacceptable
these are the very people that we will
all need to look after perhaps
us or our loved ones in the weeks ahead
it's critical that by not stockpiling by
not selfishly shopping by leaving those
supplies for others too that our health
workers are able to get access to to
what they need - these are the people
that we will all be relying on more than
we ever have done in the weeks ahead