Sam Carling

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Vaz. Food bank use massively increased under the last Government, and has nearly doubled since 2018-9. Of the 3.12 million emergency food parcels distributed by the Trussell Trust network in 2023-4, more than 1.14 million were for children. In June and July this year, 13.6% of households reported being food insecure, meaning that they ate less or went a day without eating because they could not access or afford food. I want to highlight the Peterborough food partnership, which helps many of my constituents in North West Cambridgeshire. In October, the partnership received the Sustainable Food Places bronze award, in recognition of its work towards increasing access to healthy food, tackling diet-related ill health, and creating a vibrant and diverse sustainable food economy. The partnership includes over 100 organisations across the area, including from the local farming community, the public sector, Peterborough city council, local food businesses and, of course, Peterborough food bank. Peterborough food bank served nearly 3,000 households in 2023, and saw a huge increase of 34% in parcels in 2023-24, compared with the previous financial year. The food bank partners with Peterborough citizens advice bureau, which has experienced an exponential increase in the number of people trying to access its services for income maximisation and debt advice, with up to 1,800 unique calls per month, of which it is able to answer only 15% to 20%, so there is a real issue there. Through the partnership working, people who attend food banks in Peterborough—including the one at CSK Hampton church in my constituency—are able to receive wraparound support from the Citizens Advice and other organisations, so that they can start to tackle the root causes of their issues, which often include debt, which is in turn caused by general poverty. I am so grateful for the work that Peterborough food bank does, alongside all the other organisations in the sustainable food partnership. I hope we can start to replicate that approach elsewhere.