Social Security Committee

Meeting date: Thursday, September 8, 2016

Official Report 462KB pdf

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Petition

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Food Banks (Funding) (PE1571)

Agenda item 2 is consideration of petition PE1571, on food bank funding. The petition, which is in the name of John Beattie, was lodged in July 2015 and calls on the Scottish Government to provide direct funding to food banks. Paper 2 sets out the context and the work that the Public Petitions Committee has undertaken on the petition, along with a number of suggestions. What are members’ views on the petition?

Paragraph 12 of paper 2 suggests that the committee should maintain a watching brief as part of its wider work on social security and should ask the Scottish Government to keep the petitioner and the committee informed of any response to the report of the short-life working group on food poverty. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

I agree. I have been contacted by some food banks, particularly those that missed out on the allocation of funding from the Government’s emergency food fund. It would be interesting to hear from the Government on the level of demand for that fund, whether the fund was oversubscribed and, if so, by how much, and how many organisations missed out. It has been put to me that some food banks feel that what they do—their emergency food supply to people who are in desperate need—is coming under pressure and is at risk of not existing at all. We should ask whether the Government has done any work on whether food banks and the people who work voluntarily to provide that service will be able to continue.

I agree with the recommendations in paper 2. I commend the work that volunteers do in providing emergency food, but I do not think that food banks should be part of our social security system. They are a sign that a social security system is not working; they are not a solution. Different things should be explored to address food poverty.

If food banks are struggling, that is clearly tremendously serious for those who rely on them, although I would hope that nobody would have to rely on them. I note that Ewan Gurr from the Trussell Trust said:

“It is a crucial thing to avoid ever being assimilated with the welfare state.”

The short-life working group on food poverty has reported, and I believe that the cabinet secretary has said that she will consider the report in full and respond in due course. I, too, support the action that is suggested in paragraph 12 of paper 2.

I agree with George Adam and I, too, support the action in paragraph 12.

Mark Griffin has raised a specific point. Can we come to a compromise and take the action that is recommended in the paper, which members agree with, but also write a letter to the cabinet secretary?

Yes.

Would that suffice for the committee?

Members indicated agreement.

That is great. I now bring the meeting to an end.

Meeting closed at 11:07.