CASH HANDOUT CALL TO TACKLE FOOD POVERTY
CASH could be given out instead of foodbank vouchers to help people in Glasgow struggling to put meals on the table.
Glasgow City Council is considering the plan to help tackle food poverty.
It comes after a survey found 11 per cent of people had experienced one episode of “food insecurity”.
GIVING people cash instead of foodbank vouchers will be discussed as part of an investigation into food poverty.
Glasgow City Council is looking to devise ways of easing hunger and ensuring people always have enough to eat.
A report to be considered by councillors shows a range of studies detailing the extent of poverty and hunger in Glasgow.
A survey by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde this year found that in Glasgow 11 per cent of people surveyed had experienced at least one episode of “food insecurity”.
The council has extended free school meals to include P4 pupils and into the holidays to tackle the problem of children going hungry when not in school.
A meeting of council officials and other partners in the city dealing with poverty and food hunger will take place later this year to look at new ways of combating hunger and food poverty.
One of the suggestions for discussion will be that people are given cash from the Scottish Welfare Fund immediately to buy the food they need.
It came from a Scottish Government independent working group report.
A council spokeswoman said the idea is to get people together and discuss a range of options and to work out what could be possible and what is workable.
The report says foodbanks face challenges like lack of volunteers and shortage of donations and no control of the quality of food they receive.
It stated: “They are not a long term solution to hunger.”
Bailie Elaine Ballantyne, chair of the Council’s General Purposed City Policy Committee, said: “Food poverty and food insecurity is something that we must tackle in Glasgow and the council has looked at a variety of ways in which we can help some of our most vulnerable citizens.
“Working in partnership with stakeholders and third sector organisations we all have a role to make sure we try and eradicate any form of food poverty and the inquiry is a way in which we can continue to put more measures in place across the city.
“Together we need to understand what’s happening locally and find out the scale of the problem in our city and respond accordingly and that’s what the food inquiry has been set up to tackle.”
‘‘ Food poverty and food insecurity is something that we must tackle in Glasgow