Keith Davies highlights Llanelli Foodbank surge in Senedd

Llanelli AM Keith Davies this week used a question to the Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty to ask about efforts to increase the amount of surplus food supermarkets donate to foodbanks.

Food banks in Llanelli and across Wales have seen a rise in the numbers of people who access them.Extra resources from supermarkets were specifically identified as an actionto help with demand.

In his response, the Deputy Minister pointed to guiding principles recently published by WRAP (Waste and Resource Action Programme), a group funded by the Welsh Government. He also said that he would be funding £1m to FairShare Cymru who distributes surplus supermarket food.

This has been raised by local food banks with Keith Davies personally, and he was asked to explore ways to increase surplus food donation. Mr Davies raised the issue with the First Minister late last year, where it was confirmed that guiding principles for surplus food redistribution and implementation guidance would soon be published.

Keith Davies AM said:

“There are three food banks in Llanelli – The Antioch, Myrtle House (operated by the Trussell Trust) and the Salvation Army. All reporting continual rises in demand.”

“After raising this issue with the First Minister I wanted to follow up on the work of WRAP and assess what further support is available. The Trussell Trust alone have reported huge increases, citing delayed welfare payments, benefit sanctions and low incomes. Llanelli alone has three food banks, so these nationally reported estimates are likely to be higher after considering other providers.”

“I was very pleased to have collected donations for local food banks over the past two festive periods. The Deputy Minister has accompanied me on a local visit, seeing for himself the hard work that goes on.”

“I sincerely hope this new guidance can go some way to making more surplus food available to food banks,which in turn provide a vital resource for families and individuals. I will continue to look at this and see what can be done.”

Responding, The Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty, Vaughan Gething AM, said:

“The Welsh Government is working with WRAP to try to ensure that we do more to tackle food waste and surplus food.”

“The industry working group was set up and it actually published guiding principles for surplus food distribution in March of this year… We fund that particular group to help to draw that together, and we will also provide £1 million in the coming year for FareShare Cymru, which acts as a main distributor of that surplus food from supermarkets.”

“We are very clear: we do not want to see food wasted; we want to see it used. We want to see food banks make good use of that and help to support people who really are, in desperate times, facing food poverty in modern-day Wales.”