DEFRA Releases Household Food Security Report

The long awaited report into Household Food Security, which has been delayed for several months was finally released today. It can be found here.

Happy New Year: Reflections on 2013

As we reflect on the last year, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported the work of West Cheshire Foodbank over the last year, generously giving time, food and funds to support people in crisis. Thank you!

A lot has changed since we first opened our doors in November 2012. We continue to be overwhelmed by the generosity of people who choose to volunteer with us and by the organisations and individuals who collect food for people in crisis.  We're also delighted that we now work with almost 50 partner agencies that help us to identify households in need. Anticipating the opening of a new food distribution centre in Neston in 2014 we recently changed our name from ‘Chester and Ellesmere Port Foodbank’ to ‘West Cheshire Foodbank’ too. The most dramatic change we’ve seen however has been the shocking increase in the number of people going hungry in West Cheshire.

As Dave Walker illustrates, the number of people visiting Foodbanks, both in West Cheshire and across the UK is rising dramatically. The sentiment of the caption 'perhaps we should ask why this is happening' echoes that felt at West Cheshire Foodbank. The question as to why so many more people are going hungry is one that was posed in the well attended public debate organised by the Foodbank Action Group. The event's panel, chaired by the Bishop of Birkenhead, involved a local MP, representatives from Church Action on Poverty, the Joint Public Issues team and DIAL House. The panel was complemented by powerful contributions from visitors to West Cheshire Foodbank.

Since then there have been important developments in the debate on Food Poverty and rising Foodbank use with the Commons debate on the 18th December showing that hidden amidst the tribalism of our party political system, an evidence-based consensus could be possible.

So why are more people turning to Foodbanks?

Gillian Guy, the Chief Executive of the Citizens Advice Bureau attributes the “extremely worrying” and “fast-rising need for emergency food vouchers” to the “combined impact of welfare upheaval, low wages and the high cost of living”.

She is concerned by a number of the changes to benefits and says that the “tough and often poorly applied new sanctions regime has had a damaging impact on our clients and is forcing many to turn to emergency food vouchers. Withholding people’s support to get into work, often for spurious reasons, can move people even further away from the jobs market. Over the last year Citizens Advice has seen a 46% increase in the number of advice queries received about JSA sanctions alone… One client, having been sanctioned, was unable to claim hardship payments and was left without anything to eat. Another client had been refused Employment Support Allowance and was appealing the decision. In the meantime he had no money coming in and faced five days without food. A pregnant woman out of work turned to a payday lender. The debt was collected in one lump sum, and a further sum then taken for the already paid loan two weeks later. She then had no money on which to survive. It is vital that with so much upheaval going on in the welfare system that ministers put in place strong protection for people affected."

The message from Church Action on Poverty is the same. The charity’s recent campaign action, which parodies Saatchi and Saatchi’s 1979 Conservative election poster, argues that benefit changes are the primary reason ‘Thousands are going hungry’. This is supported by what we see at West Cheshire Foodbank: almost 60% of people who visit us do so because of changes to or delays in benefits.

A recent example of delay occurred on Christmas Eve as a Department for Work and Pensions “administrative error” left 32,200 people without any support just before Christmas. The evidence we have at present shows, as Oxfam UK has stated, that “our social safety net is failing”. To our disappointment, this understanding appears to have entirely bypassed government ministers who have consistently failed to grasp the painful reality of hunger facing hundreds of thousands of people in the UK today.

Hope for 2014

It is encouraging therefore, to see that key figures in the church do recognise this and have also used their Christmas messages to speak out against the injustices of hunger. It is crucial that 2014 is a year in which we see a greater recognition of the severity and injustice of food poverty from government ministers and witness an appropriate policy response. Initially, we would like to see the government:

- Meet with representatives from the Trussell Trust and other Foodbank Networks

- Publish the long delayed DEFRA report

- Hold a public inquiry into food poverty

 

We hope that this New Year, we can continue to rely on your support and prayers, and that you will join the growing movement speaking out against the injustices of hunger.

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Foodbank Debate: Our Response

Yesterday's debate on Food Banks illustrated just how much the UK population cares about the increase in numbers of people going hungry in the UK. It is not often that a Commons Debate trends on Twitter.

 

We are disappointed that the gravity of the situation faced by those receiving emergency food across the UK and in West Cheshire was not uniformly respected by MPs. We recognise that there is still work to do in ensuring that all members of parliament recognise the human costs of hunger in the UK. We are particularly disappointed by the failure of some MPs in Cheshire West to attend the debate; by the notable lack of representation from the Minister for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Owen Paterson) and the lack of democratic accountability demonstrated by the Minister for the Department for Work and Pensions (Iain Duncan Smith).

 

We would however, like to extend our sincere thanks to Stephen Mosley MP and Andrew Miller MP for their attendance.

 

We are especially pleased that Stephen Mosley MP:

 

- recognised the work of West Cheshire Foodbank.

 

"At the end of last month, I was privileged to visit the West Cheshire food bank in my constituency. Like all food banks, it is run by a group of hard-working volunteers and supported by generous donations from across Cheshire."

 

- understands that changes to benefits and benefit sanctions are a primary driver of Foodbank use.

 

"My visit to the food bank was an opportunity not just to see the fantastic volunteers who make it happen but to hear first hand the reasons people are using food banks. The results were striking. Figures from my local food bank show that 59% of those who have used the food bank since April have visited because of changes to benefits and a growing number of people are visiting because of sanctions."

 

- supports the Trussell Trust's call for a Public Inquiry into Food Bank use.

 

"[W]e need to find out more about food banks and I back the call from the Trussell Trust and my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Laura Sandys) for an inquiry into their use."

 

- shares our concern over the suppression of the DEFRA commissioned report

 

"We need a clear picture of the role and extent of the banks and we need to know who uses them and why. Then we can have a debate based on the facts. Otherwise, this important debate will always run the risk of being hijacked by politicians hoping to score cheap political points, which does absolutely nothing to help those in need. The university of Warwick has produced a report for DEFRA on household food security and the provision of food aid. I hope that it will be forthcoming."

 

A full transcript of the debate can be found here:  

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131218/debtext/131218-0003.htm#13121855000003

You can find out what The Guardian thought of Mr Mosley's contribution here:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2013/dec/19/not-all-tories-in-denial-about-causes-of-rise-in-foodbanks

 

 

Concern over 'suppression' of DEFRA commissioned report on Food Poverty