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If you dig a little deeper than the daily mail you find this:
The DWP’s new – yet much too old – statement on foodbank growth:
“…..the OECD2 say there are fewer people struggling with their food bills compared with a few years ago….”3
The comparison is taken from the OECD publication “Society at a Glance”4. The data is drawn from a single question5 in a Gallup opinion poll asked in 2006 and repeated in 20116 . Note the time frame – this data has absolutely no relevance to increases in hunger in 2013/14.
The wording strongly implies the data is relevant to today, when in fact it refers to the period between three and eight years ago. The rest of the quote and its context also imply the numbers reflect the situation now. While the authors of the statement may believe that they have left enough ambiguity to avoid a downright lie, I would strongly disagree. A reasonable person reading this statement would come away believing something that was not true.
Heres the latest foodbank usage stats:
What the OECD did say – welfare reforms risk “entrenching poverty”:
The OECD publication the DWP chose to quote from is in fact strongly critical of Government’s welfare reforms and does indeed say things that are relevant to today’s food poverty. It says that UK incomes are falling faster than the OECD average; that “spending reductions are set to intensify” and are focused on the poorest; that these cuts are “more likely to hurt the poor” than in most OECD countries and that freezing and capping benefits “might entrench poverty for families”. The DWP chooses to quote one old and irrelevant number from this publication but ignores these appropritely evidenced points.12"
The daily mail must have missed this,wonder why?
