Patrick Butler joins a growing number of people who seek answers on how many people in this country are hungry, and why (Who knows how many people are going hungry? The government should, 20 April). The all-party parliamentary group on hunger, which I chair, has, with great despair, posed this question on a number of occasions over the past two years.
Last week, though, we were able to report on some early progress towards being able to answer this most crucial and basic of questions on the health and wellbeing of the nation. The all-party group is working with the UK Statistics Authority and others to establish, for the first time, a set of national indicators that will tell us how many adults and children regularly go without food, and why, even if they do not use a food bank. Such indicators would shine a light on Britain’s hidden hunger, and would go some way towards eliciting the necessary reform programme to try to prevent this hunger.
Some progress is also being made on improving the most visible indicators currently available on the extent of hunger in this country. I have long called for the Trussell Trust to take greater care in the way it collects and presents data. Going by last week’s data release, it is beginning to do so. This welcome development will certainly enhance the public debate on hunger. The all-party group, meanwhile, is trying to bring together similar data from those food banks that are run on an independent basis, so we can begin to build a more comprehensive picture of the hidden army helping to feed the hungry. Should independent food banks wish to contribute to this exercise, they can write to me at the House of Commons or email me at fieldf@parliament.uk.
Frank Field MP
Chair, all-party parliamentary group on hunger
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