Food insecurity and poverty - United Nations: Scottish Government response
Scottish Government position statement in response to a joint letter to the UK from the UN Special Rapporteurs responsible for food and poverty. It outlines Scotland’s human rights approach to the challenges of food insecurity and poverty, including actions taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Foonotes
1. UN Special Rapporteurs Joint Communication on Food Insecurity in the UK
2. UN Special Rapporteurs Joint Communication on Food Insecurity in the UK
4. The UN website provides a search facility which can be used to find communications sent to the UK by UN Special Rapporteurs, together with the corresponding UK Government response UN Communication search (ohchr.org)
5. OHCHR | Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council
6. Treaty bodies Download (ohchr.org) UNESCR Concluding Observations (Document E/C.12/GBR/CO/6)
8. Extreme poverty and human rights: response to UN Special Rapporteur - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
10. Fairer Scotland Action Plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
11. Every child, every chance: tackling child poverty delivery plan 2018-2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
12. Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 (legislation.gov.uk)
13. Schools: Pupil attainment: closing the gap - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
15. No One Left Behind: next steps for employability support - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
16. Fair Work Action Plan – mygov.scot
18. Information on Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods - mygov.scot
19. Tackling child poverty: second year progress report (2019-2020) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
20. Scottish Government published summary of official data on Universal Credit claimants in Scotland (PDF PowerPoint Presentation) (www.gov.scot)
21. Scottish Welfare Fund - mygov.scot
22. Scottish Welfare Fund: statutory guidance May 2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
23. Information on the Fair Food Fund - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
25. Dignity in Practice Project: Nourish Scotland
26. The Scottish Health Survey has been designed to provide data on the health of adults (aged 16 and over) and children (aged 0-15) living in private households in Scotland annually. It provides data for NHS Health Boards by combining data over four years. In 2019, 4,903 adults and 1,978 children took part in the survey.
28. Report of the 2020 Scottish Health Survey - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
29. Whilst this figure is in line with previous years, the fourth dataset is likely to be an underestimation of true prevalence due to a shift to telephone data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic (from the usual self-completion format) meaning that respondents may have felt less able to report experiencing food insecurity, alongside a lower response rate from people known to be at a higher risk of food insecurity.
30. Scotland's National Performance Framework
32. Good Food Nation policy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
33. Good Food Nation - programme of measures: 2019 update - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
34. Food and drink education - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
35. National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
38. Coronavirus (COVID-19): Food Fund guidance for local authorities - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
39. Information on Free School Meals in Scotland - mygov.scot
40. Social Renewal Advisory Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
41. Social Renewal Advisory Board report: January 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
43. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-summer-food-fund
44. Office for National Statistics, Personal and economic well-being in Great Britain: May 2020, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/personalandeconomicwellbein gintheuk/may2020
45. Rachel Loopstra, Vulnerability to food insecurity since the COVID-19 lockdown, 14 April 2020, https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Report_COVID19FoodInsecurity-final.pdf
46. The number of people (or people in their households) who had cut down meal sizes or skipped meals due to not having enough money was 18% in April and 16% in May. Food Standards Agency, Covid-19 Consumer Tracker Waves 1 and 2 (June 2019),
47. https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/covid-19-consumer-tracker-report.pdf, at 7.
48. Food Foundation, Food Foundation Polling: fourth survey – seven weeks into lockdown (22 May 2020), https://foodfoundation.org.uk/vulnerable-groups/
49. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, E/C.12/GBR/CO/6 (2016), para. 53.
50. Food Standards Agency, Covid-19 Consumer Tracker Waves 1 and 2 (June 2019), https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/covid-19-consumer-tracker-report.pdf, at 8.
51. Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, A/HRC/41/39/Add.1 (2019).
52. Ibid, para. 22.
53. Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Save the Children, A lifeline for our children: Strengthening the social security system for families with children during this pandemic (June 2020), https://www.jrf.org.uk/file/55316/download?token=zdQGDbBp&filetype=briefing, at 3.
54. Food Standards Agency, Covid-19 Consumer Tracker Waves 1 and 2 (June 2019), https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/covid-19-consumer-tracker-report.pdf 12 Sustain Briefing: Right to Food and Universal Free School Meals, February 2020.
55. Sustain Briefing: Right to Food and Universal Free School Meals, February 2020.
56. Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, CRC/C/GBR/CO/5 (2016), para. 66(b).
57. Human Rights Watch, UK: Children in England Going Hungry with Schools Shut, 27 May 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/27/uk-children-england-going-hungry-schools-shut
58. Ibid.
59. Food Foundation Polling: Third survey – five weeks into lockdown, https://foodfoundation.org.uk/vulnerable-groups/
60. National Food Strategy: Part One, https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/07/NFS-Part-One-SP-CP.pdf, at 56.
61. For instance, eligibility requirements for certain claimants, such as the self-employed, have been eased. Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit: 29 April 2013 to 9 April 2020 (19 May 2020), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-29-april-2013-to-9-april-2020/universal- credit-29-april-2013-to-9-april-2020
62. Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Save the Children, A lifeline for our children: Strengthening the social security system for families with children during this pandemic (June 2020), https://www.jrf.org.uk/file/55316/download?token=zdQGDbBp&filetype=briefing, at 12.
63. Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Department for Work and Pensions, and Victoria Prentis MP, £63 million for local authorities to assist those struggling to afford food and other essentials (11 June 2020), https://www.gov.uk/government/news/63-million-for-local-authorities-to-assist-those-struggling-to-afford-food-and-other-essentials
64. Andrew Mackley et al, Coronavirus: Support for household finances, The House of Commons Library Briefing Paper Number 8894, 22 June 2020, https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8894/
65. The Trussell Trust, UK food banks report busiest month ever, as coalition urgently calls for funding to get money into people's pockets quickly during pandemic (3 June 2020), https://www.trusselltrust.org/2020/06/03/food-banks-busiest-month/
66. Patrick Butler, Food banks' stark warning to government: we can't do this alone, The Guardian (15 May 2020), https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/15/food-banks-warning-government-poor-families-coronavirus
67. National Food Strategy: Part One, https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NFS-Part-One-SP-CP.pdf, at 55.
68. Committee on economic, social and cultural rights, General comment No. 3 (1990): The nature of States parties' obligations (art. 2, para. 1, of the Covenant) (E/1991/3), para. 10..
69. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 12 (1999): The right to adequate food (art. 11) (E/C.12/1999/5), para. 15.
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