A NEW strategy aiming to abolish hunger across the nation is to be piloted in Wirral.

The radical scheme is the result of a far-reaching inquiry led by Birkenhead MP Frank Field.

It demands a concerted effort by Government, voluntary groups and the private sector to work together to combat hunger in the UK.

The report will be launched in Parliament on Monday and is given weight by a powerful call from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby.

The Archbishop is fully behind the inquiry's demands for more help to prevent families going hungry, and will ask the Government to take "quick action" to implement its recommendations in full.

The scheme is to be trialled first in Wirral, although details of exacty how it will operate will not be disclosed until after the official launch.

The inquiry calls for:

A new publicly funded body, Feeding Britain, involving cabinet ministers, to work towards a "hunger-free Britain."

Bigger food banks, called "Food Banks Plus", to distribute more free food and advise people how to claim benefits.

A rise in the minimum wage.

Free school meals provided during school holidays for children from poorer families.

New measures to make it harder to strip people of benefits for breaking welfare rules – including football style "yellow cards" instead of instant bans.

Action to make supermarkets give more food to those in need.

Mr Field began gathering evidence for his investigation back in May in a series of public consultations held across the country. The first was staged in his own constituency.

Archbishop Welby played a vital role in the six-month study. It was funded by his Archbishop of Canterbury’s Charitable Trust and in the report's foreword, Mr Field pays tribute to "the support he has given throughout our inquiry."

The campaigning MP told the Globe he was inspired to embark upon his mission to end hunger after a visit to Birkenhead's food bank.

He said: "I went there 18 months or so ago and was horrified to see so many people seeking help immediately after it had opened.

"Through Parliament, I asked the Prime Minister if he would take steps to get the hunger and poverty scandal in hand.

"Nothing happened so I then wrote to him several times, but he never replied to me.

"So I thought, I'll just get on with it myself.

"I set up the cross-party inquiry and the results will be made clear on Monday for all to see."

The Welby-backed report praises food bank volunteers, saying they have achieved the "equivalent to a social Dunkirk."

It adds: "This extraordinary achievement has been done without the assistance of central government. If the Prime Minister wants to meet his Big Society it is here."

The investigation reveals:

Around six-in-ten people relying on food banks do so because a problem with their benefit claim has left them with little or no money.

Just 2% of the edible food "waste" produced by Britain’s food industry is currently diverted to charities that help people in need.

Up to 25% of people relying on food banks are in work.

In Merseyside, there are 37,000 poor children who miss out on free school meals because their parents are working and are automatically disqualified from the scheme.

Among those who gave evidence was Nigel Hughes, chief executive of YMCA Wirral, who featured on the front page of Globe last week describing his concerns over soaring numbers of homeless people turning to the charity for help.

He is quoted in the "Abolish Hunger" document saying: "This area has had a number of problems with deprivation for a long time.

"But it has never, ever reached the point as it has recently where deprivation necessitates the urgent forming of a food bank."

The inquiry team of MPs and Peers have devised an action plan divided into three main strategies.

The first is to establish the “Feeding Britain" organisation.

Included in its aims will be a campaign to improve the responsiveness of the welfare state to people in crisis, and end the "scandal of the subsidised destruction of edible food."

The second is “Eliminating Rip-off Britain” which calls for a concerted drive to stop poorer people being charged more for credit, mobile phones, gas, electricity and water.

It will be seeking “non-rip-off” agreements with the financial services sector, utility companies and Government.

The third requires a co-ordinated response from Government to bring about a year-by-year decrease in the number of families who become hungry.

Priorities include reducing the number of children coming to school hungry when starting lessons.

And ministers will be asked to extend free school meals to children of low-income parents who are disqualified and “unfairly penalised by the system because they work.”

Writing in today's Mail on Sunday, the Arch Bishop makes his views clear about hunger and poverty in Britain.

The newspaper says he "appeared to be on course for a clash with David Cameron after calling on the Prime Minister to reverse his decision not to take European funds to boost UK food banks."

Earlier this year Mr Cameron ruled out using a new £3 billion EU scheme, the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived to provide more cash for food banks.