Tackling food insecurity in West Lothian

Food poverty existed in Scotland long before the Coronavirus outbreak and lockdown crisis. Thousands of people in West Lothian were already relying on emergency food provision, including food banks, in order to put food on the table.

Committed to ensuring that everyone had access to food, West Lothian led the way in Scotland. The council were the first to launch breakfast clubs for vulnerable children at schools and develop summer lunch clubs. Innovative community initiatives – including communal fridges and pantries, shared meals and community gardens – have also been helping to provide a valuable lifeline, for those struggling to keep their head above water. This work has become even more important following lockdown.

West Lothian Council set aside £150,000 in January to fund further activities to reduce food insecurity. As part of this, work had begun to establish a West Lothian Food Network, bringing together organisations and individuals to improve the response to food poverty and insecurity. Small grants were also being offered to local organisations to host a Big Lunch in their community, where people are invited to open their doors, get to know each other a little better, have fun and enjoy some nutritious food. Organisations are now hosting these events virtually and using the funding to obtain additional resources, such as membership of the FareShare charity.

The council held its first ever food summit in early March where local organisations including the NHS, Third Sector and churches joined to discuss proposals for delivering Food with Dignity. Councillor Kirsteen Sullivan, Deputy Leader of the council, said: “Little did we know that it would be so timely. The establishment of a food network is just one part of a wider plan to tackle hunger in our communities.”

The council are also providing funding for existing food provider projects. 28 local projects will see funding being provided to community food providers to ensure they can continue to deliver food to those who are in need.

Elaine Nisbet, Anti-Poverty Manager at the council said: “Food with Dignity principles are at the core of our efforts to support those facing food insecurity during the COVID-19 outbreak. The council is prioritising key groups who may be facing particular barriers to accessing food. We are also offering welfare and financial advice to those who need it, ensuring our frontline staff signpost people to available support.”

“The collective efforts of teams across the public, third and voluntary sectors have meant that low income and vulnerable households in our communities have not gone hungry during lockdown. New ways of working, collaboration and the sharing of ideas and resources have allowed us to feed 4,000 people every week. This is a fantastic achievement.”

The team at The Larder, a social enterprise and cook school in West Lothian, played a crucial part in developing the funding application and food network. Angela Moohan, Chief Executive Officer at The Larder said: “Collaboration is an easy word to use in policy documents and funding applications but actually making this happen in real life is more difficult. Bringing together a range of different stakeholders in this way can be challenging but the fact that everyone was genuinely interested and recognised the strength of the collective, made this process much easier.

“At The Larder, we believe in the power of food as a means not only of reducing hunger but of building relationships, bringing communities together and building our joint capacity to respond to the unprecedented challenges which Coronavirus has brought with it. The funding made available by West Lothian Council has put in place the foundations for a response to food insecurity which we can use going forward and will also be vital as we look to recover from the pandemic.”

The West Lothian Food Network are now looking to develop a Food Action Plan, which will feed in to the Community Planning Partnership’s Anti-Poverty strategy. Work is also underway to attract more local companies to actively contribute excess food to the network and offer other forms of support.

To find out more or get involved, visit the Access to Food page on West Lothian Council’s website.