NHS: Food Banks

Lord Cashman Excerpts

Thursday 26th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

I thank my noble friend for that remark. It is entirely up to local organisations and local institutions, and those doing the work in Birmingham and Tameside are to be congratulated.

[Lord Cashman (Lab)]

My Lords, I do not doubt the Minister’s sincerity in his answers, but I point out that food banks result because people are going hungry. People are starving in this country and should not have to rely on such charity. Does he agree that obesity often occurs when people on very meagre budgets have to have the worst kind of food in order to feel satisfied?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

The factors behind obesity and malnutrition are extremely complex. The all-party inquiry referred to complex and frequently overlapping factors. The work done by the University of Warwick found that there was no systematic evidence on drivers of food aid in the UK—and the evidence was drawn not just from the UK but from the US, Canada and Germany.