Sustain response to new Parliamentary Inquiry on Food Poverty and Hunger

Yesterday's report from the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger highlights the spread of food poverty in Britain. Sustain welcomes the recognition within it of the mounting problem of food poverty in the UK, including the rise of food banks and increase in malnutrition, but feels that the report has the wrong emphasis on how to solve this problem.

Abi Ramanan, of Sustain commented, “Unfortunately, the strategies outlined in Feeding Britain may have the unintended consequence of making food banks an integral part of the welfare system.  The report’s top recommendation calls for a new national network of food banks, the food industry and representatives from the eight government departments whose policies affect the number of people at risk of hunger. Yet experiences from Canada and the U.S. show us that food banks can never solve hunger – they can only shovel faster to try to fill the gaps in social policy. Rather than focusing on institutionalising charity we believe in championing effective and affordable action to reduce food poverty such as adopting a living wage, improving healthy start voucher and free school meal uptake, improving access to fresh produce in food deserts and preventing further cuts to community meals services. In the long-term, these measures will go a lot further towards ensuring everyone can afford and access nutritious food.”

Notes
The Feeding Britain report acknowledges that the key causes of hunger and food poverty are complex, stemming from rising food, fuel and housing costs, coupled with the erosion of social welfare and the decline in real median earnings. The report concludes that the overriding message from the Inquiry’s evidence called for immediate action to halt and reverse the rising demand for emergency food assistance. The full report can be found here: http://www.frankfield.com/campaigns/appg-hunger-food-poverty.aspx