The scandal of food poverty

Many of us will have perhaps over indulged during the festive period so it’s likely one of the last things people want to talk about is food. But it’s something we need to have a serious discussion about in Scotland and we need to acknowledge that too many people, including children, are going hungry.

An investigation by the Scottish Greens recently discovered that families in Scotland have accrued more than £1 million of school meals debt. In the area covered by Stirling Council the local authority say parents are £18,407 in the red.

These figures simply underline the sad fact that food poverty exists in Stirling and isn’t going away. In fact, in the face of a brutal Tory welfare regime, it’s getting worse. Figures from the Independent Food Aid Network and a Menu for Change show that last year there was five per cent increase in emergency food parcels distributed in locally. Stirling actually compares favourably to the rest of the country where the average increase was 17 per cent but it’s still scandalous that thousands of people in this country are relying on charity to eat. Food banks including Start-Up Stirling do vital work and the dedication of their staff and volunteers is incredible, but the necessity of their existence is thoroughly shameful.

Currently the Scottish Government provides funding for free school meals for every child in primary one through to primary three, so the importance of nutritious meals in a child’s education is clearly recognised by policy makers. The problem is that a child’s need for healthy food doesn’t suddenly diminish when they start their fourth year at school or when they move into secondary education.

Free school meals are available for people on low incomes past primary three, but all the evidence suggests that the uptake of means tested benefits is far lower than universal benefits. These debt figures

Children are still going hungry

simply confirm that fact.

The fact is that some children in Scotland are going hungry, which has an impact on their attainment at school and compounds an already vicious cycle of poverty. The Scottish Government has looked to Finland in the past for policy inspiration and should do so again. There every child there is provided with a nutritious breakfast and lunch even during school holidays ensuring they never have to go hungry.

Scotland is rightly recognised the world over for the quality of our produce, but it’s too often seen as a luxury or a commodity when really, we should all feel the benefit. There is an abundance of local producers throughout the region and the children in our schools shouldn’t feel cut off or distant from where their food comes from.

Stirling is ahead of the curve here as it’s one of nine local authorities in Scotland where The Food for Life programme is already up running. This scheme is designed to reconnect people with food production while teaching them how it’s grown and cooked. School is obviously a vital part of every child’s development and this programme helps integrate the importance of food into the daily lives of pupils and families it has dramatically improved the quality of Stirling’s primary school meals in recent years. But the fact is children are still going hungry. The emergency food parcel and school meal debt figures serve as a stark reminder of that fact.

Food is such an integral part of our lives and it’s a real shame that its production and consumption is too often dominated by faceless corporations or distant factories, but that needn’t be the case.

We have all the tools and resources we need to ensure that no child in Scotland goes hungry, all that’s needed now is the will.