Aim to abolish hunger in UK to start in Wirral

The rising cost of housing, food and fuel has had an adverse impact on households’ ability to buy and cook meals, a parliamentary inquiry has found.

The all-party parliamentary inquiry into hunger and food poverty in Britain led by MP for Birkenhead Frank Field and the Bishop of Truro the Right Reverend Tim Thornton, was set up in October 2013 to investigate the extent of hunger in the UK.

The inspection aimed to understand the underlying causes of hunger and to compare efforts to alleviate hunger in other western countries.  The final report will be published on 8^th December 2014.

The audit found that the ability of households to meet the cost of living has eroded over the past decade. During evidence hearings, it saw the extent to which the proportion of average household income needed to cover the combined costs of housing, fuel and food had increased since 2003, in a trend unprecedented in post-war Britain.

Presenting his findings Mr Field said: “These fundamental changes in the relative prices in budgets of food, utilities and rent have blown sky-high the comfortable post-war assumption that our wages system and our benefit system guarantees a minimum which most of us would regard as tolerable.”

The probe calls for a coordinated response from charities and the government to establish Feeding Britain – a new publicly funded body – to work towards a “hunger-free Britain.” The report will also call for the creation of a network of Food Banks Plus centres which will distribute more free food and provide advice to people seeking to claim benefits. Other recommendations include raising the minimum wage and expanding the provision of free school meals throughout school holidays for children from poorer families as well as extending free school meals to children from low-income families, whose parents’ employment status currently disqualifies them from the scheme.

During the hearings it was also found that only two per cent of edible surplus food is currently redistributed to the poor with the remaining 98 per cent of surplus being converted into compost, energy or disposed of in landfills. As a result, the supermarkets will be urged into giving more food to those in need. In direct response to this inquiry, Mr Field plans to  promote a pilot scheme in Wirral. The exact details of the programme will be disclosed following the official report publication on 8^th December 2014.

Chris Gilroy