Council criticised over contents of free food parcels
ALOCAL authority has been condemned over the contents of food parcels handed out to vulnerable families. Parents have hit out at East Renfrewshire Council after some claimed they received rolls and bread that had reached their expiration dates.
Some have questioned whether or not provisions given by the local authority would be enough to feed a child five lunches.
One furious dad tweeted after seeing the contents of a friend’s parcel: “Here @EastRenCouncil, any chance you could cook this into 5 lunches for a friend of mine’s child? I’ll give you £30. FYI rolls dated Monday and received on Monday. You know or just give vouchers which would have been the correct, efficient and dignified thing to do.”
The packs appear to contain a pack of cherry tomatoes, two oranges, one apple, three individual packs of cheese, two small packs of raisins, six rolls, a pack of noodles, a tin of tuna, a tin of sweetcorn, a yoghurt and one pepper.
Jennifer Smith, a mum from Newton Mearns, has urged the council to think about choice.
She said: “Adults decide on a daily basis what to eat and what not to eat, why shouldn’t children? If somebody put food on your plate that you don’t like (or can’t eat for any other reason) then you wouldn’t eat it, would you?”
She also urged people to think of others, saying there were many reasons that people might be in receipt of free school meals, adding: “I say maybe think before you speak. No matter what the reason is, every child should have a choice of what to eat, whether parents or guardians can afford it or not.”
The images come after food activists such as footballer Marcus Rashford and writer Jack Monroe spoke out against food parcels given out to families in England in receipt of free school meals. Some of the packs contained halved rotting vegetables and stubs of carrots which many parents have called “insulting”.
Following the decision that the UK Government will now be replacing parcels with vouchers, others have now called on East Renfrewshire Council to follow suit.
East Renfrewshire is one of the most affluent local authority areas in Scotland. 57% of its Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) datazones are without deprivation. It is home to just 7% of the most deprived areas. Meanwhile, nearby Glasgow City Council has 12% of SIMD datazones without deprivation and a whopping 45% in the highest.
Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance said: “Too many people – especially children – across Scotland are struggling to access the food they need. This is not because of a lack of food, but a lack of money. ‘Food poverty’ is poverty, and we can only loosen the grip of poverty by putting cash in people’s pockets.
“We would urge East Renfrewshire Council to join the overwhelming majority of Scottish local authorities by providing direct cash payments, not food parcels, to families eligible for free school meals. Cash payments provide families with the choice to best meet their children’s needs, in dignity, in a way that food parcels cannot do.”
Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood
also called on the council to reconsider the decision.
He said: “We must all learn from experience and I am calling on SNP led East Renfrewshire council to recognise that the quality of food parcels has proved to be inconsistent and vastly inferior to the flexibility of vouchers to parents who can then make decisions appropriate to their family needs.
“The key need now is for East Renfrewshire to change its policy without delay.”
However, East Renfrewshire Council has defended the decision. It says providing food parcels for families is the best way to get it to those who might need it.
A council spokesman said: “We have delivered more than 36,000 free school meal packs since lockdown first started in March 2020 and continue to work hard to ensure that our most vulnerable children have access to a range of nutritious food.
“Our food packs, which can be amended to cater for all dietary requirements, are designed to provide meals for one week and include fresh fruit and vegetables.”
The food pack is also delivered to vulnerable children who are attending school where they will also be receiving a hot meal.