Food Banks

Debate between Fiona O'Donnell and Rob Wilson

Wednesday 17th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Wilson]

The reasons for people visiting food banks are complex and frequently overlapping. It is difficult to give one particular reason for the use of food banks increasing at a time when, as the hon. Lady says, unemployment is dropping rapidly in constituencies all around the country.

That brings me to an important part of my speech, on the economy. Our broad policy approach is that economic growth and employment offer the best route to give people a better future and to reduce poverty. Our country has been through the deepest recession in living memory, and the Government inherited a tough fiscal and economic situation, including the highest structural deficit of any major advanced country.

The Government have a long-term economic plan to secure Britain’s future, and sticking to it is the best way to improve living standards. Although there is more to do, that plan is working, as the Chancellor made clear in his autumn statement. There are now more people in employment than ever before, and I hope Opposition Members will welcome that fact. The economy is growing faster than any other in the G7, and we have cut income tax for 26 million people and are freezing fuel duty, cutting child care bills and providing funding for councils to freeze council tax. It is working—disposable income per capita is rising, and income inequality is down. I welcome the news this morning that not only are jobs being created and unemployment falling, but wages are rising significantly above inflation.

However, we are not complacent. There are still hard-working families facing challenging circumstances, which is why we continue to spend £94 billion a year on working-age benefits to support millions of people who are, for instance, unemployed or on low income. More than 93% of jobseeker’s allowance and employment and support allowance claims are now processed on time, within 16 days, which as I said earlier is up 7% since 2009-10. Universal credit will further speed up that processing, and the Department for Work and Pensions will do more to raise awareness of short-term benefit advances. That work will include providing more information about such advances to claimants both online and in jobcentres. We will also update staff guidance on those advances and remind staff of the process for considering them.

[Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

The Minister spoke about the complexity of the reasons for the increased use of food banks. I know that he has studied the report in great detail, so can he tell the House what the top two reasons were?

[Mr Wilson]

As I said, the reasons are complex and frequently overlapping. If the hon. Lady has read the report herself, she will know what was in it, so I will leave her to cogitate on what the top reasons were.

We acknowledge that there is concern about prices. Following Ofwat’s 2014 price review, water bills across England and Wales will reduce by up to 5% before inflation, which is equivalent to about £20 a customer. I hope that Opposition Members will welcome that cut. As I have noted, we are freezing fuel duty, and road fuel prices are falling—they are at their lowest level since the end of 2010. It is also welcome news for consumers that year-on-year food prices have fallen, with an annual rate of inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages of minus 1.7% in the year to November 2014.

Fuel Prices

Debate between Fiona O'Donnell and Rob Wilson

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Fiona O’Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

I will bear that in mind, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to begin by thanking the hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) for giving everyone in the Chamber, on both sides, the opportunity to stand up for hard-pressed motorists in our constituencies who are struggling with the increase in fuel prices at the pumps. It is clear to all that there are people who are gaining by manipulating markets and that consumers are not seeing the benefit when oil prices fall. We must also be clear that the OFT has announced not an inquiry at this stage, but a call for evidence. I am sure that everyone in the House will want their constituents and local businesses to get in touch with the OFT and present an overwhelming case for an inquiry so that we can see some progress.

The hon. Member for Harlow said that this is not a party political issue, but I have to say that I do not think we see the issue in isolation. Thanks to the opportunity he has given us today, a large number of my constituents have been in touch, and not many of them said, “The only problem in my life is the price of fuel at the pumps.” We also have the problem of rising food prices.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Fiona O'Donnell]

I will not, because I want as many Members as possible to be able to contribute to the debate, as you have suggested, Madam Deputy Speaker.

It is also about rising food prices, which rose by 4.6% between March last year and March this year, and rising energy prices. The Prime Minister promised to take action to stop excessive rises in energy prices. I have asked him questions about both food inflation and energy prices, but we have not seen any action from the Government, so I hope that the hon. Gentleman will be more successful in convincing the Prime Minister to do something to bring down petrol prices.

Today’s debate is not just about the speculators and the oil companies that are making money off the backs of our constituents; it is about those individuals who are struggling to find work and, increasingly, having to travel further to do so. I want to talk about one of my constituents who has been in touch, a 40-year-old single man. He has been in work all his days, apart from a 16-week period when he could not find work. He is currently having to make a 48-mile round trip each day to get to work. That is taking a third of his salary, which leaves him unable to buy clothes; he told me that he has not bought any new clothes for at least three years. It also means that he is struggling even to put food on the table. The Government have to take some responsibility because their economic policy is hurting people and making it much more difficult to cope with rising prices.

I want to touch briefly on a policy that is also impacting on poorer motorists, who, as the hon. Member for Harlow rightly said, are suffering more than anyone else. I understand why we incentivise people to buy more environmentally friendly cars—that is absolutely the right thing to do—but the poorest motorists struggle to come up with the money to buy a car that allows them to benefit from the policy.

In conclusion, I again congratulate the hon. Gentleman. I hope he will be able to convince the Government to act on fixed pricing.