Councillors have agreed more than £100,000 worth of funding for West Lothian Food Network in two more donations between now and September.
The council’s Executive this week agreed to two instalments of £70,000 between, as the latest round of a funding agreement first set up in early 2022.
The Food Network was established in early 2020 as a way of tackling food poverty across the county.
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It was a baptism of fire for the Third sector group which within weeks found itself having to organise a response to the first lockdown of the Covid Pandemic.
In a report to the Executive Anti-Poverty Manager Nahid Hanif said: “The West Lothian Food Network was formed in Spring 2020 with 24 organisations. Membership has now grown to 47 organisations the newest members being St. Johns Church in Linlithgow, the new Well in Linlithgow and West Lothian Bike Library from Crofthead Community Centre in Livingston.”
The report added: "The network aims to support low income households who face on-going food insecurity over a period of time. The distribution includes a combination of cooked food, emergency food parcels, specific foods to meet the requirements of BAME groups, and access to fresh, frozen and ambient foods as well as providing toiletries, cleaning products, baby food and pet food.”
The Network has also saved food from going to waste. Successful development of a food hub has resulted in 144 tonnes of food being acquired by donation from 53 local food businesses, charities and Fare Share.
This food has been saved from being disposed of as waste and instead redirected to 41 of the 47 West Lothian Food Network member organisations for the benefit of local communities.
WLFN aims to support households not just with food but also to link people to local organisations which can offer further help. The network actively refers to advice agencies such as the Advice Shops managed and run by the council, to ensure that all benefit entitlement is accessed, works with households to find solutions to debt and enables households to better manage finances.
Working in partnership with West Lothian Council’s Anti-Poverty Service an advisor worked with food network members to maximise income, deal with debt and offer practical help and tools to reduce expenditure. From April 2022 to February 2023, 138 food network users have benefited from this approach with total financial gains of £387,946.
From December the Network agreed to the establishment of a dedicated Steering Group of members to lead discussion and actions required towards a new look Food Network from April.
The steering group will act as the executive of the WLFN, until a governance model has been set up and more permanent arrangements are in place.
The Network is also in the process of establishing secure regular funding from charities and other Third sector funders.
After listening to concerns about sensitive information collection from users of the food network services Ms Hanif defended the collection of data as something required by the Scottish Government to identify who was benefited and who needed to benefit from the services set up by Network food providers.
Council leader Councillor Lawrence Fitzpatrick paid tribute to the project and said: “The challenges we are facing in the community are extensive and I continually say with all respect to all other sections thank goodness we have a Jewel in the crown in our Advice Shops.”
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