MPs call for a Minister of Hunger to reduce alarming increase in families who struggle for food
The new minister would also oversee the fight against childhood obesity and other food-related health problems
MPs have called for a Minister for Hunger to be created in order to stem Britain’s alarming increase in families who struggle to put food on the table.
The minister would also oversee the Government’s fight against childhood obesity and other food-related health problems, the Commons Environmental Audit committee said.
Its recommendations came alongside shocking findings that show one in ten children in England aged 4-5 are malnourished. In Wales this figure rises to one in eight.
Separate figures from the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (Bapen) which said that the number of “undernourished” people in the UK was three million, with 1.3 million of those aged over 65.
MPs said a cross-government position in the form of a Minister for Hunger is needed in light of worrying analysis that found the number of families in Britain who have limited access to food due to a lack of money is among the highest levels in Europe.
The committee blasted the Government for leaving “an item as significant as hunger and food insecurity in the UK has fallen between the cracks”.
Committee chair Mary Creagh warned that while many are still recovering from Christmas excess, “the sad fact is that more children are growing up in homes where parents don’t have enough money to put food on the table”.
She said: “The combination of high living costs, stagnating wages and, often, the rollout of Universal Credit and the wider benefits system, means that levels of hunger in Britain are some of the highest across Europe.
“We found that nearly one in five children under 15 are living in a food insecure home - a scandal which cannot be allowed to continue.
“Instead of seeing hunger as an issue abroad, the Government’s New Year resolution should be one of taking urgent action at home to tackle hunger and malnutrition.
“This can only be addressed by setting clear UK-wide targets and by appointing a minister for hunger to deliver them.”
In its report into “Hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity in the UK”, the committee found that the Government’s widely publicised obesity strategy made no mention of “food insecurity”.
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