Food Bank Use Increase

That the Parliament understands with concern that the number of emergency parcels handed out by food banks in Scotland has risen dramatically in the last year, with over 210,000 packages given to people in crisis, which represents a 23% increase; acknowledges that 7,609 three-day emergency food supplies were handed out between April 2018 and March 2019 in Greenock and Inverclyde, 2,021 of which went to children; is appalled that, across the UK, a reported 1,583,668 three-day emergency food supplies had to be distributed, with 577,618 of these for children; understands that nearly half of all food bank referrals are due to a delay in benefit payment under what it sees as the UK Government’s disastrous universal credit (UC) scheme, which sees claimants waiting at least five weeks to receive their first payment; is shocked that, in a country with one of the highest GDPs in the world, the need for food banks in the 21st century is rising; believes with dismay that the UK Government has stated that benefit changes or delays are not to blame for these figures; considers that this flies in the face of evidence suggesting that, under the UK Government’s benefit programme, child poverty will rise to record levels in the next five years; believes that, although the Scottish Government’s efforts to make UC as workable as possible for claimants, with schemes such as direct payments to landlords and allowing monthly payments split into two instalments, without having full devolved powers over the matter, it is extremely difficult to counteract what it sees as the catastrophic effects of UC; considers that this is an unacceptable situation, and notes the calls on the UK Government to stop ignoring the poorest people in society at the expense of what it sees as failing Brexit proposals and internal Conservative Party schisms.