David Morris MP spoke in a Westminster Hall debate before Christmas ,where he exposed that the Trussell Trust had not been able to provide him accurate data for Morecambe Food Bank.It is understood that the manager of the local food bank has been spreading mistruths via letters and press releases and therefore the full letter sent to the Trussell Trust outlining the facts is published below:
Date: 19th January 2015
Dear Mr Mold,
Thank you for your email regarding my contribution to the debate on Foodbanks on the 17th December in the House of Commons.
I have copied my Local Foodbank manager Annette Smith into this correspondence as I believe you have also asked her to contact me and release a statement to the local press asking me to retract my comments.
Let me be clear I will not be retracting any of the comments I made in the debate on the 17th December 2014, as they were all statements which were factually correct.
In December 2013 I am sure you will be aware there was a similar debate in the House of Commons, preceding this debate my team contacted your offices and asked for the figures for the foodbank in Morecambe because I was concerned that the Trussell Trust had claimed there had been a rise in figures in my constituency.
Your Foodbank Network Director Adrian Curtis said in an email to me in January 2014 that:
‘Our data system measures interventions rather than unique clients since we do not ask for the names of all family members on out foodbank vouchers. As such we are currently unable to provide you with a list of individuals who use the foodbank in Morecambe. ‘
‘We are currently working on a report that will provide an estimated figure across our network using the number of repeat visits by a lead client who is names on a voucher however this report is currently being developed and is not yet available.’
In this email I was given a list of figures from the Morecambe Foodbank from 2012-13 and from April 2013 to January 2014.
The figures from 2012-13 state that 260 people used the foodbank, 147 adults and 113 children. The figures from April 2013 to Jan 2014 said that 2203 people used the foodbank. This would be an increase of 10% adult usage and an overall increase of 11.8%.
It also appears from your email that you only record the main client on the food voucher, from my knowledge this has to be an adult so I am confused as to how you have come to the figure of children being fed. From the 2013/14 data it appears that 33% of 2203 has been calculated and written down as the number of children. Also the age range data I have been given for the clients works out as 99.9% between 16 and 65+ with no children. As I am sure you will now appreciate at this point it was clear that the figures being quoted did not quite add up.
It was also made clear to me that the Trussell Trust do not count individuals they count each meal a figure on its own. Does this then mean that a person comes to a foodbank (260 12/13) gets three days’ worth of food and three meals from each day then a final figure for the numbers using a food bank is the calculated (2203 in 12-13). On this calculation 244 individuals used the foodbank from April 2013 to January 2014.
There have also been conflicting details in the local press, in one article alone on the 12th March 2014 the Morecambe Visitor said that the foodbank figures said that 2,822 people needed emergency food parcels in the last 12 months, and it then featured a quote from Morecambe Food Bank manger Annette Smith which said 1423 parcels were given out over the last 12 months.
In Dec 2014 there was further article in the Lancaster Guardian which said that the period from April 2014- Dec 2014 the food bank usage was 1,567 adults and 815 children. Again the children’s figure is worked out as 34% of the aggregate figure of 2382. This article claimed that there had been an increase of 76% when in actual fact from the figures you supplied for the previous year it is an increase of 7.6%.
As I am sure you are beginning to see this paints a picture of an organisation whose data is being formulated to fit their argument at any given time.
On 16th April 2014 the Trussell Trust released a batch of National figures to all Members of Parliament to say that the number of foodbank’ s being used nationally had significantly increased. As the Member of Parliament for Morecambe and Lunesdale it is my responsibility as a legislator to ensure Government legislation is working in practice and to highlight to Ministers any loopholes in legislation which is negatively effecting my constituent’s. To this end I responded to the data email to David McAuley and asked for the correct and accurate data from Morecambe Foodbank and asked him to meet me at the foodbank with the figures to have a meaningful discussion as to how I as the Member of Parliament could help.
Please note at this point I had never been sent a formal invitation in writing from the food bank in Morecambe asking me to visit.
The information I asked for prior to visiting with the Chief Executive was:
How many individuals used the Foodbank in Morecambe last year?
How many times did each individual use the foodbank?
What were the reasons for the original use of the foodbank in Morecambe?
What were the reasons for the repeat use of the foodbank in Morecambe?
One would think that these were entirely valid questions and that this data would be readily available and fed in to compile national figures, but also this information would be collected from the individual foodbank vouchers needed to obtain a food parcel.
David McAuley responded on the 17th April 2014, an email which you were copied into and therefore should already be aware of, he said that:
The Trussell Trust is prepared to help Morecambe Foodbank produce a report, but please be aware that this will take time and that some elements of the analysis will incur a cost to the Trust and Morecambe Foodbank. This means we may not be able to answer questions quickly.’
This response shows that the data that has been claimed in releases and given to me so far is not the accurate data from Morecambe foodbank, it confirms my suspicions that the data given to me so far is not accurate. To not be able to give a Member of Parliament the simplest data regarding the reasons and usage of a local foodbank is simply unacceptable if you want to have any chance of helping the people that use your services.
The email then goes on to talk about national figures and how he believes this data to be sound, but this does not get away from the fact that accurate data for my local foodbank in Morecambe is not available. Mr McAuley then offers to show me around a foodbank in London but declines to come up to Morecambe and show me around my local foodbank. As the Member of Parliament for Morecambe and Lunesdale my concern lies with my constituents in Morecambe and it would not be helpful for me to visit the foodbank in London instead of in Morecambe. Residents in London are faced with differing problems and issues than my constituent’s in Morecambe and it would therefore not be a productive visit.
The final section of the email states that:
I would like to report that a corporate partner has offered to help us make any necessary improvements to our data system, but this will take time. The Trussell Trust is not trying to mislead the public, we are reporting that we are experiencing a growing need for services, and the many reasons behind growth.’
This is all well and good but actually it does matter how many people are using the foodbank, it does matter how many individuals are using the foodbank last year and it does matter the reason why these people need to use the foodbank. I want to have a meaningful conversation with the Trussell Trust about why people in my constituency are using the foodbank and if this is increasing I want to know why and I want to go back to Government and see where they can help.
I know that the Trussell Trust in my area and nationally have links to the Labour Party and by creating figures derived from smoke and mirrors this only confirms my suspicion that the reason I have not been formally invited through proper channels or been given any proper data is because of the political party I represent. I am not prepared to go to Morecambe Foodbank without any correct figures for a party political meeting on behalf of the Labour Party, to do that would be to let down my constituents who I am trying to help.
I will ask again for a final time, please provide me with the full and accurate figures (not aggregate data) from Morecambe foodbank along with the reasons for usage. I will then be able to visit the foodbank along with either yourself or Mr McAuley and the Head of Social Services for Lancaster to have a full and meaningful discussion about where the problems are in my area and what legislative procedures need to be changed if there are certain aspects that are not working.
I look forward to receiving the data. As your Foodbank manager Annette Smith has decided to share her original correspondence with the local media, I will be sharing my response as an open letter with media outlets.
Yours Sincerely
David Morris MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale