A REPORT highlighting the number of people who cannot afford to eat properly is being suppressed by ministers, it has emerged. Academics were commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to carry out a “rapid evaluation” of the evidence on the use of food banks and soup kitchens in England. The study, by a team based at Warwick University, was completed in March. It is understood to show a surge in food-bank use, with twice as many people turning to them for free food in 2012 as in 2011. The report is expected to blame the soaring cost of food; prices have risen by an average of 30% in the past five years, while average incomes have remained frozen. This has left many poor households in crisis, forcing them to turn to charity. Labour claims the coalition’s welfare reforms have fuelled the problem, leaving thousands of people on the breadline. The study was well rated in a process of peer review before publication. After minor amendments, it was submitted to the government in June, and was expected to be published soon afterwards. However, according to insiders, the Department for Work and Pensions and Defra have repeatedly blocked publication, sparking suspicions that the findings are embarrassing for the coalition. The Liberal Democrat Lord Oakeshott, a former work and pensions spokesman for the party, has laid a parliamentary question demanding an explanation. “We cannot claim to be the most transparent government ever if we conceal expert reports on serious social problems,” he said. According to the Trussell Trust charity, food banks fed 346,992 people nationwide in 2012. Of those helped, 126,889 were children. Users, who are typically given three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced, non-perishable food, must be referred by doctors, social workers, councillors or other individuals in a position of authority. Defra said: “Government- funded research projects are required to go through the necessary review and quality assurance process prior to publication. Once this process is complete, the report will be published on the government’s website.”
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 19:41:20 +0000
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