Kirkcaldy Foodbank and the Child Poverty Taskforce

Kirkcaldy Foodbank is continuing to contribute to the work of the UK Government's Child Poverty Taskforce.

The role of the taskforce is to oversee the development and publication of an ambitious cross-government strategy to reduce and alleviate child poverty.

The aim is to improve children’s lives and life chances now and address the root causes of child poverty in the long term.

Foodbank chair Angela Campbell along with her husband, fellow foodbank trustee Ian, visited Westminster in February at the invitation of Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy MP, Melanie Ward, and had the opportunity to outline the work being done locally.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, and Alex Fitzpatrick, the senior civil servant overseeing the Child Poverty Taskforce, were particularly interested in the positive impact of having partners working alongside the foodbank and the support of Fife Council in helping to alleviate poverty in the Kirkcaldy area.  

More recently, Angela and Ian had an online discussion with Alex Fitzpatrick, senior civil servant overseeing the taskforce, and Beth Bainbridge, policy officer in the Department of Health and Social Care. 

Angela said: "The policy team is still scoping what interventions might be useful and wanted to hear from us regarding the ways we have positively implemented effective partnership working and what we consider to be positive routes for mitigating the child and familial poverty we come across.

"These included what is making the most difference to those parents we see who are able to increase their pay/hours and become less reliant on our support, or what the key barriers are stopping that from happening.

"They were also interested in our engagement with Fife Council and what that means in practice, and the availability of mental health support."

She went on: "We were able to give some good feedback for each and a little perspective around mental health support, while acknowledging that we do not have a dedicated professional in our hubs. 

"They were particularly interested in us considering having a housing professional available and other third sector agency representation going forward.

"They have promised to keep in touch and want to hear more from us if we are able to gather more momentum around this partnership hub approach."

Angela added: "To be honest, I am still pinching myself that we as a local foodbank are being invited to join these conversations. 

"Beth was sitting in 9 Downing Street for the meeting, and we were sitting in our kitchen in Kirkcaldy.

"It's really quite something that our foodbank’s work and opinions are held in such high regard!"

Angela and Ian during their visit to Westminster in February.