Bob Bevil on a food security summit

A foodbank with a table full of containers of vegetables. A woman with a bag stand next to a container of potatoes - while a row of volunteers stand behind the table. — Volunteers and residents at Burnt Oak Community Food Bank – (Credit – Burnt Oak Community Food Bank)

In November, the Barnet Food Partnership hosted a very well-attended Food Security Summit at the ARK Academy. Expert guest speakers attended from all around the country to assess the experience of food insecurity in the borough and co-create recommendations for change.

The emergency food system in Barnet is exclusively a philanthropic food bank model based on public donations and managed entirely by the voluntary sector.

The clear message from the summit was that food alone cannot be the solution to food insecurity because it is structural in nature.

Some of the structural challenges raised include Barnet Council having the second highest recourse to the use of bailiffs in the UK, Barnet is one of only four boroughs not registered as a London Living Wage Employer and the fact that the LBB is not a “Right to Food Borough.”

Opportunities also exist to link food bank clients with the many Section 106 employment opportunities in the borough and to leverage public procurement to build a dignified and sustainable emergency food system like social supermarkets.

Bob Bevil

Advocacy and Campaign lead, Chipping Barnet Foodbank

The full report with speakers and recommendations can be viewed here: https://chippingbarnet.foodbank.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/349/2024/12/Feeding-Barnet-Summit-Report-2024-FINAL.pdf

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