In 2024 we published a policy brief on food system change. The brief was co-produced with local residents, community researchers and the University of Sussex as part of the five year Food Systems Equality Project. In this blog Community Researchers, Emma and Cailan share their experience of bringing policy to life through their involvement in a bus stop advertising campaign in Brighton & Hove and share the findings of the related research report.
By Emma and Cailan (community researchers)
Cailan, Rachel and I (Emma!) began our new roles as Community Researchers on a cold January morning, just over six months ago. As part of our induction session a former Community Researcher, Sophia, joined us to share the policy brief the team published the previous year “Policies for transforming the UK’s food system: insights from Brighton and Hove’s local community”
We reflected as a group on how we felt we were standing on the shoulders of the Community Research work that had been done before us as we began our new role. (And we all later confessed to having read it as part of our interview prep!).
I don’t think any of us quite expected to move from interviewee to interviewer quite so fast. But in February and March we went out onto the streets on Brighton & Hove to speak to local people at bus stops to evaluate a bus stop advert produced to promote the Healthy Start Voucher scheme, produced in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council and the NHS.
Carrying out the survey
It felt like a daunting challenge, but we were well supported in our task. The survey was produced by Pablo Villalobos and Katerina Psarikidou from the University of Sussex. We discussed the ethics and practicalities of delivering the survey and fed back our thoughts on how best to order and phrase the questions, and just how many questions we could expect to ask in a limited time.
We asked questions about people’s knowledge of Healthy Start Vouchers, what they thought about current food advertising and the Healthy Start Voucher ad.
Ultimately the advert was shown at over 50 bus stops in Brighton and Hove.
We spoke to 205 people, however only 10% were pregnant or had children under four. Around one in twenty were currently using Healthy Start Vouchers.
Community Researcher, Cailan has captured his experience of carrying out the survey.
Cailan’s experience very much reflects my own. Two things in particular stand out in my memory. Firstly, the environment that we carried out the survey, surrounded by food advertising and ultra processed food choices, underlined by the drinks and snacks people were consuming at the bus stops. Secondly, how engaged many people were in the discussions about healthy food choices. Several people even decided to miss their bus so they could finish speaking to us.
We’d like to express a huge thank you to everyone who gave their valuable time to participate in the survey, and those who very politely declined.
Impact
The next step was a presentation of our initial findings to a working group at Brighton & Hove City Council. I felt immensely proud to co-present at this meeting and bring our findings to life.
The full data set was then analysed and compiled into a report by Katerina and Pablo. Cailan has summarised some key findings below.
Reading back through the policy brief now, in preparation for writing this blog, I feel privileged to find how many recommendations this work has delivered on.
The policy brief demonstrated that people have had enough of an environment and economy that supports ultra processed, unhealthy food choices over healthier options. People wanted their opinions to not only be heard but listened to and acted upon.
“Our workshops affirmed people’s vision for a future where “healthy food should be the norm, not a luxury” – (Policy brief workshop 2023)
Healthy Start Vouchers can be used to buy pulses, along with milk, fruit and vegetables. With including more of these items in our diets also being a key finding of the policy brief.
Our report also showed enormous goodwill within the community for more support for healthy food choices. Hopefully this will reduce the stigma that many people feel when they need to access help to achieve this.
Conclusion
This report will now direct and inform the council’s work on restricting junk food advertising and provides insights into using public spaces for healthy food information.
Our research findings have also received interest at a regional and national level. With the report ultimately being presented to NHS England’s team responsible for the Healthy Start Voucher scheme.
The bus stop survey work and resulting report is a tangible example of taking forward action from previous research findings that capture the voice of our local community.
Healthy Start Vouchers – Spread the word!
We know that many households in Brighton & Hove that qualify for Healthy Start Vouchers haven’t signed up for the scheme. Healthy Start Vouchers are available for people on low incomes and all under 18s from early pregnancy until a child reaches four. Once signed up you’ll receive a card that can be used in supermarkets and local shops to put money towards milk, pulses, fruit and veg in your shop. The card can be used anywhere that accepts debit and credit cards. The scheme also provides free multivitamins.
You can apply online if:
- you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have at least one child under 4 years old
- your family’s monthly ‘take-home pay’ (also called ‘earned income’) is £408 or less from employment