Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Haskel (Labour). It was answered by Lord De Mauley (Conservative) on Tuesday, 26 November 2013.

Food: Food Banks

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the request by the Executive Chairman of the Trussell Trust for an inquiry into the causes of food poverty and the incidence of the usage of food banks.

Answer: My Lords, the Government recognise the good work of organisations that redistribute surplus food to those who might otherwise struggle to access nutritional meals. However, the root causes of household food insecurity are varied and complex. We are not proposing to record the number of food banks or the potential number of people using them or other types of food aid. To do so would place unnecessary burdens on volunteers trying to help their communities.

Secondary information