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Get your free copy27 May 2020, 08:20 AM
- Role could help bring together Government and food industry to address growing issue
With hundreds of thousands of Brits vulnerable to food poverty amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the industry is calling on the Government to appoint a Minister of Hunger to address the growing crisis.
Whilst figures for how many families rely on donations and help from the food industry are still unknown, food distribution charity FareShare estimated that two million people rely on its donated food for their main meal each day.
In light of the shocking numbers and lack of cohesive plan, FDF CEO Ian Wright has called on the Government to take ownership of responsibility. Addressing the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) committee inquiry into food supply issues as a result of COVID-19, Wright questioned why the Government and industry does not have a minister for the hungry.
“I do think that one of the things this crisis has done is to show the absence of responsibility for hunger,” Wright told Defra. “No single department has responsibility: not the committees and local government, not work and pensions, not Defra.
“Someone has to take that responsibility and have a coordination role. We have a minister for women, for veterans, for the disabled – we should have a minister for the hungry.”
The argument is a familiar one, as last year, the Commons Environment Audit Committee called on the Government to introduce a Minister for Hunger in response to a growth in food insecurity across the country. At the time, Unicef figures showed that 19% of children under 15 in the UK lived with adults who struggled to buy food.
The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in millions of people being furloughed or made redundant, has only made the need to address the situation more imminent. Whilst a £16m fund was announced by the Government to help charities such as FareShare to buy food direct from supermarkets, the aid isn’t expected to last long. And whilst companies, charities and even publications like The Independent are running their own campaigns to help feed the hungry, Government ownership and a clear strategy could help to bring together the food industry and the Government at a critical time.
