A couple of years ago in 2021 I submitted a e-petition that was a clear call for funding from the Government for FareShare and Food Banks and other similar charities. Tragically I only managed just 3,4690 signatures. I have just checked out how many other petitions there are that cover the same sort of theme. There are only 10 significant e-petitions that cover the theme that have similar aspects in the headline on this list below. There may have been some others that are even smaller. Hopefully the ones that are bigger will have been successful. Sadly as I found out when I tried to submit my document that including FareShare and other agencies are not accepted in the system so there are no e-petitions that refer to FareShare in their headlines or in the rest of their text. My e-Petition was entitled “Provide additional funding for redistributing surplus food”. Here are the 10 largest Petitions that cover the Food theme.

End child food poverty – no child should be going hungry – 1,113,889
Make access to food a legal right – no one in the UK should go hungry – 53,659
Ban development on agricultural land to increase food self-sufficiency – 25,081
Support British Food Producers by ensuring that marks of origin remain – 14,142
Grant food and drink wholesalers bespoke financial support – 7,488
Fund increased support for Avoidance Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) – 4,645
Ban the use of plastic packaging for all non-food items – 3,739
Ban the redevelopment of agricultural land. Protect it for food production. – 3,630
Provide additional funding for redistributing surplus food – 3,469
Country Of Origin Labelling should be compulsory on all imported food – 2,974

My e-petition which was published on 29 June 2021 and ended on 29 December included the following text.

In April the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee called on the Government to provide ongoing funding to redistribute surplus food from the farmgate and across the supply chain to food aid providers. In June the Government said there were no plans for further grants. This should change.

A Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair told the Committee “that the Government takes food waste very seriously” and that she expects “this to be an area in which we continue to work as Government”. We need the Government to provide public funding to enable the many agencies to carry out the work necessary to prevent food waste and improve food security.