Written Statement: Funding for Tackling Food Poverty (17 December 2024)

As part of our commitment to prioritise support for people affected by food insecurity, today I am announcing a further £1.7 million this year towards tackling food poverty. This additional funding builds on the £2.8 million allocated already this financial year by the Welsh Government to help alleviate and tackle the root causes of food poverty and comes on top of £22 million allocated to support food poverty since 2019.

The money will include:

• Additional emergency food aid support, distributed to local authorities, to help strengthen existing community food initiatives, including a focus on activity that helps to address the root causes of food poverty. Organisations that might wish to benefit from this support should contact their local authority to discuss.
• Funding to help support cross-sector food partnerships in each local authority area in Wales. These multi-agency partnerships are helping to understand and address local need, tackling the root causes of food poverty by maximising the effectiveness of projects and ensuring that resources are targeted at areas of greatest need.

The additional funding will be distributed through the WLGA to local authorities in Wales in the coming weeks.

The money will also include funding for Fareshare Cymru to support the distribution and promotion of their foodbanks network this winter and the purchase of food distribution equipment to ensure that FareShare Cymru can continue to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of community food organisations. It will also support food education activities to help low-income families struggling with the cost of food.

This statement is being issued during recess to keep Members informed. Should Members wish me to make a further statement or to answer questions on this when the Senedd returns I would be happy to do so.