Job advisers posted in food bank in trial launched by Iain Duncan Smith

Job advisers have been posted in a food bank as part of a trial that is set to be rolled out across the country, Iain Duncan Smith has announced.

Claimants who turn to charities for support when they cannot make ends meet can be given advice on finding work while picking up emergency food parcels, MPs were told.

The scheme is being trialled at a food bank in Manchester but could be introduced into other centres if it is successful, the Work and Pensions Secretary said.

"I am trialling at the moment a job adviser situating themselves in the food bank for the time that the food bank is open and we are already getting very strong feedback about that," he told the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

"If this works and if the other food banks are willing to encompass this and we think it works we think we would like to roll this out across the whole of the UK."

Mr Duncan Smith questioned Trussell Trust figures that showed a 398% increase in the number of people using their food banks between 2012-14 in Scotland.

While the figures were "genuinely put together" they were "not absolutely clear", he told the committee.