What its position is on reports that foodbank use has reached a record high in Scotland, and what it considers the reasons are.

The Scottish Government is extremely concerned that the number of people accessing food banks is increasing and finds it unacceptable that in the twenty-first century there are people who cannot afford to feed their families. A range of sources since 2010 state that changes the UK Government has made to the social security system, benefit delays and the introduction of sanctions, as well as low pay and insecure work are the main factors behind the growing need for emergency food.
In response, the Scottish Government is providing £1 million over 2014-15 and
2015-16 to help combat food poverty in Scotland. The Emergency Food Aid Action Plan provides support to those working in the emergency food aid sector, helping to address food poverty by:
Funding 26 emergency food aid projects in 17 local authority areas at a total cost of £523,000 over two years. Each of the projects seeks to respond to the immediate demands for emergency food aid and help to address the underlying causes of food poverty. Actions range from increasing food provision to promoting healthy eating, benefits and other advice, and in some cases linking food providers across a local area.
Funding of £500,000 over 2014-15 and 2015-16 to support FareShare to tackle food waste and food poverty across Scotland. FareShare takes good quality surplus food from the food industry and makes it available to charities and community groups providing vital support for the most vulnerable in Scotland who are suffering from food poverty. In the first six months of 2015 FareShare has distributed almost 500 tonnes of surplus food to over 300 local community groups across the country. Over 1 million meals have been prepared for an average of over 15,000 recipients each week. FareShare estimates that on average the provision of surplus food saves each of its ‘Charity Food Members’ £13,000 per year. Using that estimation FareShare has saved the third sector in Scotland around £2 million over the last six months alone.
In addition we are investing in alternatives to food banks to offer a more sustainable, longer term solution. Development of community food hubs forms part of the work of Community Food and Health (Scotland) which receives £2.6 million of funding from Scottish Government for 2012-16 to support work within low-income communities to improve access to and take-up of a healthy diet by working with individuals, groups and agencies at local, regional and national levels, providing networking, skills development and training, practice and policy development.
Whilst emergency food aid has been essential we recognise the need to move as a country towards a dignified food strategy promoting food justice, not charity. In order to help us do that I have asked Martin Johnstone, Secretary of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council, to chair a short-life working group to identify the issues which push people into food poverty and make recommendations to ministers on how they can be addressed. The group is holding a number of meetings between October 2015 and January 2016 and will provide a series of recommendations to ministers. These recommendations will then feed into the Scottish Government’s Social Justice Action Plan, which will be published in 2016.