Kelly Ministers should listen to experts

HOW many times has a Secretary of State for Work and Pensions visited a Food Bank since May 2010 when the government launched its policy of austerity?

After all, there have been five DWP ministers in all – Iain Duncan Smith, Damian Green, David Gauke, Esther McVey and now Amber Rudd.

They oversee universal credit, whose shortcomings have seen many having to use food banks.

The thought struck me last week in the fallout from the initial findings by Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, on his recent trip to the UK. As well as talking to experts and officials nationwide, Mr Alston visited people at the sharp end of austerity, including those at the West End Food Bank in Newcastle

He concluded the government had inflicted “great misery” on its people with “punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous” austerity policies driven by a political desire to undertake social re-engineering rather than economic necessity.

Ms Rudd was not happy, complaining that the tone of his report into the consequences of austerity in the UK was “highly inappropriate”.

She said: “We, on this side of the house, will always engage with professionals, with experts, with NGOs. We are not so proud that we don’t think we can learn as we try to adjust universal credit for the benefit of everybody.”

She added: “But we look forward to working with experts in the area, to make sure we get the right outcome for the people who we want to look after.”

When “working with the experts” in this area, surely there is no one more expert than those at the sharp end of the policy.

If you were dealing with racism and sexism you’d talk to people who have endured racist and sexist attacks.

So I contacted the DWP to see if any of the five Ministers have actually visited a food bank. It said: “Yes, Amber Rudd. We can confirm she’s visited a local food bank multiple times. As discussed ... previous Secretaries of State will also have visited a food bank, but we don’t keep a record of visits by former post-holders.”

I had asked for dates and places but none were forthcoming and I found the vagueness of the response unsatisfactory.

So I contacted the Trussell Trust which said Rudd, who is MP for Hastings and Rye, has definitely visited its Hastings Food Bank once. Also, Esther McVey and David Gauke had also both definitely visited one of their food banks once, according to the trust.

No mention of Iain Duncan Smith, whose idea UC was, nor Damian Green, although the trust pointed out it is responsible for two thirds of UK food banks and they could have gone to one it doesn’t oversee. But who knows?

I find it astonishing that, in just over eight years, there is so little evidence of food bank visits by Ministers. Some might conclude they just don’t care and wished certain UN Special Rapporteurs didn’t either. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd defintely has visited a food bank