£350,000 to be shared by projects tackling food poverty

Projects aimed at tackling food poverty are to share £350,000 in Scottish Government funding.

The money will support 16 community groups and food banks that work to help struggling families access healthy food.

Funding from the £1 million Fair Food Fund aims to cut reliance on emergency food aid and instead provide opportunities for people to contribute such as volunteering, sharing skills or growing food.

Announcing the funding, Communities Secretary Angela Constance said: "Everybody in Scotland should have access to fresh and healthy food and these projects ?will help people across the country who are struggling to feed themselves and their families, while reducing the reliance on emergency food provision.

"We have been clear that UK Government welfare cuts and benefit sanctions have continually pushed more and more people into food poverty and increased the demand and number of food banks in Scotland.

"This shocking trend has to stop, and we will continue to fight those changes. Relying on food banks is unacceptable and it's something we want to eradicate. No-one should need face those conditions in a modern country.

"Our ambition is to help community initiatives to support people in a dignified way and try to address the underlying causes of food poverty, and it's encouraging to see people and organisations coming together to deliver programmes that reflect this."