, Shadow Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, commenting on new statistics
about food poverty, said:
"There is more than enough food in our supply chains to
make sure that everyone has enough to eat. This is now not a
crisis of food supply, it's a crisis of poverty. People simply do
not have enough money to buy the food they need.
"The government urgently needs to expand which shops are
able to accept free school meal vouchers to include those
supermarkets most present in our poorest communities. Many people
only have access to their local convenience store or a more
discount supermarket.
“It's vital that these shops are included in the Free
School Meals voucher scheme, so our most vulnerable children can
get the food they need."
Ends
Notes to editors
- The Trussell Trust
reports its network’s busiest ever period, with 81% more
emergency food parcels being given out across the UK, including
122% more parcels going to children, compared to the same period
in 2019.3 The data shows people struggling with the amount of
income they were receiving from working or benefits as the main
reason for the increase in need.
- IFAN’s survey of independent food banks following
outbreak of COVID-19 shows data collected between 2 and 9 April
2020 from 85 organisations running 147 food banks. The average
percentage change in food parcels issued from February 2019 to
March 2019 was 3.41%. The average percentage change from February
2020 to March 2020 was 59.3%.
- A report from the Food Foundation
published in early April revealed that 1.5 million people had
gone a whole day without eating since the start of the lockdown.
Two percent of respondents, equivalent to more than one million
people, said they’d lost all of their income. Forty-three percent
of those who reported a drop in income thought they would not be
entitled to help from the government. The Food Foundation’s
report can be found here - https://foodfoundation.org.uk/new-food-foundation-survey-three-million-britons-are-going-hungry-just-three-weeks-into-lockdown/
- The government contracted with private benefits and
rewards packages company for the provision of school meals
vouchers to eligible children who are not attending school
because of the coronavirus crisis, including during the Easter
holidays. The following supermarkets currently accept the
vouchers:
-
Tesco
-
Sainsburys
-
Morrisons
-
Asda
-
Waitrose
-
·M&S
-
Aldi
-
McColls
Further information about the scheme is at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools
