Selaine Saxby MP has written a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt ahead of the Autumn Statement to reconsider ring fencing the funding for the food redistribution sector to help charities such as FareShare.
Fareshare is the UK’s largest food redistribution charity, which takes surplus food from the food industry that would otherwise go to waste and gets it to a network of 8,500 charities across the country. Budget constraints meant that FareShare had to turn down up to 2 million meals worth of good to eat surplus food last year.
Selaine has written to the Chancellor to ask the Treasury to revisit a Conservative policy that does not require ‘new government money’ and provide FareShare with £25 million in funding which will facilitate the delivery of 42,500 tonnes of surplus food, the equivalent of 100 million meals, to people worst hit by the rising cost of living.
Around 88% of the public believe surplus food should be donated to people and charities, and more than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling on government to commit to funding FareShare
Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon said:
“I have always been a huge supporter of FareShare, just last year in North Devon FareShare delivered 33,500 meals via 6 local community groups, and over 132,000,000 meals nationwide. This is why I feel that it is important that the Government continue to support the valuable work that FareShare do for our community and reconsider the ring fencing funding for the food redistribution sector.
“I am proud that Conservative Governments have previously financially supported FareShare’s work with farmers, creating £6 worth of economic value for every £1 spent with the charity. As I said in 2021, when I supported FareShare’s ‘Food on Plates’ Campaign, wasting good food should never be cheaper than feeding people.
“I know many residents in North Devon have raised to me about the rise in food prices which impacts us all and many charities have reported financial difficulties as a result. As the redistribution of food fall within a cross departmental remit, I have also forwarded my letter to Defra. I do hope that the Government will be able to come up with a solution so that charities such as FareShare who do such great work for our community can continue to do so.”
George Wright, CEO at FareShare, said:
“A big thank you to Selaine Saxby, who joins 130 MPs from across the House who agree that good food should be going to people, not waste. Demand for our food has skyrocketed, as more people are relying on the charities we support to get food. Across the industry, less than 2% of surplus food gets redistributed to people in need. This includes fresh produce from our farms, where 7 billion meals worth of edible food goes to waste every year. This could be going to some of the many charities we supply such as after school and breakfast clubs, or domestic abuse refuges and community centres.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the support from Selaine Saxby, and encourage the Government to use the Autumn budget as an opportunity to tackle these staggering levels of food waste, and support communities across all the UK.”
