Last nights Dispatches programme on Channel 4 was very sober viewing. It provided for all of us who have never visited a foodbank a snapshot account of three families who have been forced to turn to one and the circumstances that led to each case. The stories were not sensationalised nor were they told in an unnecessarily voyeuristic manner. The children in each case were not patronised but their accounts of why their parents or carers were forced to ask for help came across in a manner that few adults could have provided. They were neither angry nor embarrassed, both of which would have been the case for many adults asked for the same sort of account under those circumstances.

It would be hard to watch the programme and not feel stirred enough to want to see changes in the support provided for families in the circumstances faced by the three families interviewed. I have written before in this space calling on the Government to encourage all MPs to both visit and volunteer at their local foodbank. Some MPs I know have done both but many have certainly not volunteered in their local service. Whilst I believe there is no substitute for hearing and seeing and shaking hands with the people who have been referred to such agencies, this programme offered a level of access and insight that would be hard to replicate in the brief meetings at each foodbank. I still hope that the Government will encourage their colleagues to attend a foodbank, and participate in the daily work of these vital services. However I also hope that the Prime Minister will bring a large screen into the Cabinet Room and persuade all of his colleagues to watch Dispatches and then before any can leave the room, agree a plan of action for how to reverse some of these terrible experiences for others who are suffering in the same way as the three families interviewed.