:01:35. > :01:42.N D south: A new local food bank is being opened every four days. There
:01:42. > :01:52.are over 3,000 in Salisbury alone. Is this really the affluent south?
:01:52. > :01:52.
:01:52. > :35:54.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2041 seconds
:35:54. > :36:04.The management of our civil Waterways is about to switch to a
:36:04. > :36:05.
:36:05. > :36:12.group of volunteers. Is that any way to run it? I am joined by two
:36:12. > :36:18.MPs. A lot in the news this week about work experience and Tesco's.
:36:18. > :36:26.You did some work experience for the Chancellor, was that
:36:26. > :36:31.intimidating? Well I had been asked the at home mum with my children
:36:31. > :36:38.and it is very daunting going back into the workplace. I volunteered.
:36:38. > :36:48.I think the All thing about getting up in the morning, getting dressed
:36:48. > :36:49.
:36:49. > :36:52.and travelling and going into the office. I think it is very good to
:36:52. > :37:00.get work Experience and have absolutely no problem about unpaid
:37:00. > :37:06.placements. The I think the problem is they have people in supermarkets
:37:06. > :37:14.stacking shelves, it is a minimum wage job and they should be paying
:37:14. > :37:18.them. People went to count land and a quarter of them left the course
:37:18. > :37:24.because they were able to get jobs elsewhere. I think it is very good
:37:24. > :37:29.for our young people. The minimum wage is actually very small for
:37:29. > :37:34.young people. It is not exactly going to break Tesco's profit
:37:34. > :37:40.margin. I do not think it is to help Tesco's, it is to help people
:37:40. > :37:44.into jobs. The people behind this campaign are all Unionists. I have
:37:44. > :37:51.not heard any people themselves saying we do not want to get out
:37:51. > :37:54.and get work experience. I do not think that is true. In Oxford we
:37:54. > :38:03.have had people come to us to make exactly those points about slave
:38:03. > :38:06.labour. Food prices up 4% last year, worries about cuts to benefits,
:38:06. > :38:15.rising unemployment, hardly surprising that the number of the
:38:15. > :38:22.food banks is on the increase. One charity based in Salisbury is
:38:22. > :38:28.hoping to get one into every major town in the country. We are joined
:38:28. > :38:32.by a representative from then. It would be a great success if it was
:38:32. > :38:40.not for the fact that people were in such poverty they have to come
:38:40. > :38:44.queue for food. A because people are finding themselves in difficult
:38:45. > :38:50.situations all the time. Food poverty can strike almost anybody.
:38:50. > :38:54.If you only need one change in circumstance and a job this appears.
:38:54. > :39:02.Your wages get cut, you are on a minimum income and suddenly you do
:39:02. > :39:06.not have enough money to cover the basics. People have lots of
:39:06. > :39:11.possessions go, don't they? Can't the sell things in order to make
:39:11. > :39:15.sure that their children eat? suspect you could but can you get
:39:15. > :39:21.out there and sell your television for a few pints in the time you
:39:21. > :39:28.need to get your children fed that day? It is not be the realistic.
:39:28. > :39:33.There needs to be a safety net in place. -- very realistic. Your
:39:33. > :39:39.offer in the first place a few days' supply. Do people keep coming
:39:39. > :39:44.back? We are crisis support. We offer a 3D supply and we offer it
:39:44. > :39:49.up to three times and thereafter it has to be an association to ensure
:39:49. > :39:55.that we have the stocks we need and we can meet the crisis need. We are
:39:55. > :40:00.not there to be some form -- some form of system for people. The
:40:00. > :40:04.whole point of food bank is to allow a professional and that
:40:04. > :40:09.family to work together to get themselves out of that problem that
:40:10. > :40:16.the RN. We are therefore be initial support and then it is down to the
:40:16. > :40:21.system to come up with a solution. -- they are in. How much worse do
:40:21. > :40:26.you think this is going to get with cuts in benefit? There are changes
:40:26. > :40:32.to benefit and I think there is a huge risk of welfare reform at the
:40:32. > :40:36.moment. There is always an issue when benefits change. That will
:40:36. > :40:41.take some time I am sure. You have the housing benefit, Universal
:40:41. > :40:47.credit as well and the confusion around that is likely to bring
:40:47. > :40:51.people to you sort of charity? could do. If universal credit is to
:40:51. > :40:56.work and it is something we would support in theory, the support
:40:56. > :41:01.systems that go in it for the changes, as long as it is not to
:41:01. > :41:05.the detriment of people, the need that support. Often we are dealing
:41:05. > :41:10.with people who find it most difficult to deal with that kind of
:41:10. > :41:18.change. And how do you feel about these benefit changes that are
:41:18. > :41:22.coming through? Is there a good bank in Oxford? Yes. Do you feel
:41:22. > :41:27.that sort of thing is the right thing or should we be paying people
:41:27. > :41:32.benefits so that they can afford to eat? Rental values in Oxford are
:41:32. > :41:37.very high so we have had significant impact from the dead
:41:38. > :41:41.child benefit changes. We are finding people are increasingly
:41:41. > :41:47.coming to as for additional benefit which we can pay on they are
:41:47. > :41:51.dipping into their basic income to pay higher rents than they would
:41:51. > :42:01.otherwise have to do. As a consequence, the food banks are
:42:01. > :42:06.being very heavily used. By 2015 have a million people in the
:42:06. > :42:10.country could be using food banks, and that is the forecast, and you
:42:10. > :42:16.we are one of the most developed countries in the world. It is a
:42:16. > :42:22.brilliant charity, it is very well supported. Hats off to them, but
:42:22. > :42:26.isn't it a terrible situation? fact that you could not get a meal
:42:26. > :42:31.together for your kids that evening is a very terrible feeling. People
:42:31. > :42:39.do not have savings to fall back on which is something we should work
:42:39. > :42:47.towards. The proposed benefit cap is 50% more are in pre-tax terms
:42:47. > :42:51.than the average earnings in my constituency. The week the benefits
:42:51. > :42:59.system is so complicated I think that a third of the people who come
:42:59. > :43:04.it is because of confusion and of in error in the benefit system.
:43:04. > :43:14.think the benefit cap has to be looked at in a context. In Oxford
:43:14. > :43:18.
:43:18. > :43:24.for example the cap will going in housing costs giving or only �6,000
:43:24. > :43:28.for everything else in life. People could make a decision perhaps not
:43:29. > :43:35.to live in Oxford. We have distorted the market giving people
:43:36. > :43:42.a benefit to live in high-cost areas. We do need to increase the
:43:42. > :43:46.supply of housing but it has always struck me as strange that we pay
:43:46. > :43:50.people on benefit to live in very expensive parts of the country
:43:50. > :43:57.where people who have mortgages cannot afford to live there.
:43:57. > :44:05.need control systems to have a proper balance. It is a difficult
:44:05. > :44:08.system. Some people who come to the food banks are living chaotic lives
:44:08. > :44:14.but there are increasingly middle- class people who have been
:44:14. > :44:21.organised up until now it? We are seeing more people like that
:44:21. > :44:25.recently. If you are a husband and wife and you are both self-employed
:44:25. > :44:29.and the jobs that you do feed off some other industry that has cut
:44:29. > :44:36.back you might go from being able to support yourself quite happily
:44:36. > :44:41.with the nice house and the car and on a certain level of that being
:44:41. > :44:46.through debt which has always been manageable. If your income falls
:44:46. > :44:51.away it does not take very many months, people do not have savings,
:44:51. > :44:59.you can get through �3,000 very quickly and then you find yourself
:44:59. > :45:02.with all those bells stacking up. We live in a beautiful part of the
:45:02. > :45:06.world but behind those chocolate box villages there are people
:45:06. > :45:11.living in poverty. There are people in the country out there with a
:45:11. > :45:19.higher cost of fuel, having to drive to work, these things can
:45:19. > :45:26.make a huge difference. Family breakdown is a major cause of
:45:26. > :45:31.middle-class poverty. That often affects men very much as well. We
:45:31. > :45:38.are have got to bring this to a close but best of luck. Keep up the
:45:38. > :45:45.good work. This summer a new charity will be formed which will
:45:45. > :45:49.become the 12th biggest in the UK with a land and property portfolio
:45:49. > :45:54.of �12.5 billion. It is British Waterways who will move from being
:45:54. > :45:59.a public body employing civil servants to become a trust. Senior
:45:59. > :46:03.staff are taking pay cuts but there is also controversy with many users
:46:03. > :46:13.of the waterways in the South worried about the impact of the
:46:13. > :46:14.
:46:14. > :46:18.change on then. The still waters of the canal in midwinter. Here
:46:19. > :46:25.Dunbartonshire bought owners and businesses are expectantly looking
:46:25. > :46:29.forward to a new era on the canals. A charitable trust is about to
:46:29. > :46:33.emerge from British Waterways. Funded in part for the next 15
:46:33. > :46:41.years by the Government, as a charity it will also be able to
:46:41. > :46:49.raise its own money and will call on volunteers to help out. This
:46:49. > :46:56.man's business depends on it. want our business -- I do not want
:46:56. > :47:03.our business depending on the work of volunteers. If they do not do it
:47:03. > :47:10.took that certain standard, what comeback have we got? I am not sure
:47:10. > :47:17.how it is all going to work. 200 year-old canal links in Bristol
:47:17. > :47:22.and Reading. In 2003 fundraisers completed its full restoration
:47:22. > :47:27.using the National Lottery's biggest-ever grant. From this April
:47:27. > :47:35.the Government has promised the new waterways charity 39 million a year
:47:35. > :47:43.and an ownership of a property portfolio. Will it be enough? Some
:47:43. > :47:48.remain to be convinced. Our biggest concern is capital investment,
:47:48. > :47:52.large capital investment from lottery heritage funding. It will
:47:52. > :47:58.be easy for the British Waterways Board trust to gain access to that
:47:58. > :48:04.but we do have concerns that the trust ensures that the whole
:48:04. > :48:11.network stays open. You cannot shoot it down until it has had a
:48:11. > :48:17.chance to fail. Let's see how it goes. And what of the Kennet & Avon
:48:17. > :48:21.Canal Trust? If you look at what the new charity has to do, it has
:48:21. > :48:27.to raise money locally as well as nationally, it has to do things
:48:27. > :48:33.like run cafes because that is a good source of income. Our trust
:48:33. > :48:40.does that. We presently run for up public trip boats which generate a
:48:40. > :48:45.good source of income. -- four public trip boards. I think to this
:48:45. > :48:50.day we are still not convinced that the consideration has really been
:48:50. > :48:55.understood. Creating a charitable trust from what was a Government
:48:55. > :48:59.department is not without its risks and challenges. Funding will be in
:48:59. > :49:07.place for the next 15 years but what is worrying some is that there
:49:07. > :49:13.is still much to do and it is still very much a work in progress.
:49:13. > :49:17.Things like the pay of its chief executive and the future of paid
:49:17. > :49:24.lock keepers and how in time it might take under its wing navigable
:49:24. > :49:30.rivers like the Thames. They never has had major flooding occasions,
:49:30. > :49:37.water supply occasions, it cannot be seen as just another 120 miles
:49:37. > :49:43.of waterway. British Waterways are under no illusion about the passion
:49:43. > :49:47.of their stakeholders. Already the trust is definitely the way forward
:49:47. > :49:52.that his best. I think it is the best thing to happen to the
:49:52. > :49:59.waterways for 60 years. Your only untapped resource is the goodwill
:49:59. > :50:04.of the people. This is about enhancing the enthusiasm and good
:50:04. > :50:09.feeling and we are going to do it. So funding is secured a law
:50:09. > :50:19.questions remain about how the money will be spent and there is no
:50:19. > :50:26.
:50:26. > :50:36.shortage of opinions on that. -- Balbo questions remain -- although.
:50:36. > :50:37.
:50:37. > :50:47.There are questions and the tens is -- Thames is a water way that would
:50:47. > :50:49.
:50:49. > :50:55.be in question. It would have to be still run by the Environment Agency.
:50:55. > :50:59.There are a lot of volunteers already on the canal. There is a
:50:59. > :51:05.huge Volunteer Force doing work around the Oxford area to improve
:51:06. > :51:11.the barge areas and the environment around it. As we have been seeing,
:51:11. > :51:16.we are all volunteers now, whether working at Tesco's or in a trust or
:51:16. > :51:23.whatever. If they are competing for those volunteers, that could be a
:51:23. > :51:27.problem. You can continue for a while running it on the current
:51:27. > :51:31.basis and then there will be a big need for capital investment to
:51:31. > :51:33.maintain and repair. If that is going to be gained through
:51:33. > :51:42.charitable purposes or voluntary contributions that could be
:51:42. > :51:48.difficult. Thank you for showing the jewel of the Crown in my
:51:48. > :51:51.constituency! The huge renovation project came from a Lottery grant.
:51:52. > :51:57.One of the things mentioned was that half a billion pound of
:51:57. > :52:02.property assets will be transferred into the charity. It will be very
:52:02. > :52:11.well-funded. The opportunity to manage that portfolio and put money
:52:11. > :52:21.aside to extend his beer. It is challenging. It is always a chef in
:52:21. > :52:31.mentality but there is so much enthusiasm. -- chef in mentality. -
:52:31. > :52:31.
:52:31. > :52:35.- shift. I think people are very excited about the changes. A good
:52:35. > :52:44.analogy is the National Trust which has over a million members and
:52:44. > :52:52.maintains a very large estate. If it goes down that track potentially
:52:52. > :53:02.it has enormous potential. A now our weekly round-up of politics
:53:02. > :53:09.
:53:09. > :53:18.squeezed into 60 seconds. This week it is all about D3 -- the three R's.
:53:18. > :53:24.It is about reading and writing and arithmetic. There were questions on
:53:24. > :53:30.community library volunteers. vast majority of volunteers have
:53:30. > :53:38.rolled up their sleeves and got on with it. Bracknell in peak Dr
:53:39. > :53:45.Philip Lee laid out his scheme for NHS patients to get an annual
:53:45. > :53:55.statement showing the cost of what they have received. It would be
:53:55. > :53:55.
:53:55. > :54:05.itemised. This place wants to be known as Abingdon on Thames. It is
:54:05. > :54:07.
:54:07. > :54:17.very nice, so long as the river has water, with a drought! We are
:54:17. > :54:21.
:54:21. > :54:28.talking about droughts and we are talking about flooding! The Vale of
:54:28. > :54:35.Whyte Horse got that name but it is actually a dog on the hell! What do
:54:35. > :54:40.you think of the idea of the NHS giving people a statement of
:54:40. > :54:48.account? I think it is a good idea but it could have a persuasive
:54:48. > :54:56.effect on people who have a long- term chronic illness. I am a great
:54:56. > :55:04.one for letting people know how much these fantastic assets are.
:55:04. > :55:09.People who do not show up for appointments. If you have an
:55:09. > :55:13.injured service person or something these slightly dispiriting plot of