News
Report urges Gov to tackle root causes of food insecurity and end reliance on charities
The paper – Food and Beveridge report: the future of food aid in the UK – presents actionable recommendations to address food poverty and food waste.
Inspired by Sir William Beveridge’s 1942 report which led to the establishment of the welfare state, Community Shop’s new report calls on the UK Government to take a holistic, person-centred approach to tackle food insecurity at its root and end dependence on emergency food parcels.
Community Shop is the social enterprise arm of the surplus food redistributor Company Shop Group, and advocated for the creation of a sustainable and scalable system that addresses food poverty by tackling the immediate need for access to food and moving away from short-term dependency.
The report also calls on the government to mandate food waste reporting, in line with the food waste hierarchy, and recognise that charitable and not for profit redistribution cannot solve the food waste challenge in isolation.
Six key policy recommendations are included in the report, under the following headings: beyond emergency food parcels, outcome-focused food security policy, holistic support tackling the root causes, mandatory food waste reporting, accelerate progress towards a circular economy and physical infrastructure for food-aid.
'Tackle the root causes of food insecurity'
The white paper features contributions from industry experts such as Dr Christina Holweg, Andrew Forsey and Dr Clive Black plus a foreword from Ainsley Harriott. Community Shop is also supported by hundreds of stock partners including Aldi, Asda, Iceland, McCain, M&S, Nestle, Ocado and Samworth Brothers.
“The food insecurity crisis cannot be solved by emergency food parcels and other short-term fixes, such as food banks,” said executive chairman of Community Shop, Gary Stott.
“We urge the government to tackle the root causes of food insecurity by transforming food aid for the future, prioritising dignity and sustainability, and moving away from short-term sticking plasters. Community Shop’s person-centred model, refined over the last 10 years, has delivered transformational outcomes for over 72,000 families.
“The continued expansion of provision like Community Shop is reliant on government recognising its sustained outcomes, and ensuring that support is equally available to all organisations delivering this kind of provision. We are now eager to share our proven approach and learnings with decision makers, roll out the recommendations, and ignite long-term change.”
In other news, glass is set to be excluded from the impending Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers in England and Northern Ireland.
