Care Home Staff 'Must Have Proper Training'

Compulsory training for care home staff will be introduced under Government plans to better protect the elderly from abuse and neglect, according to reports.

Health minister Norman Lamb said the lack of basic requirements for training care workers was leaving pensioners in the hands of staff who have "no idea what they are doing".

Proposals are expected to include national minimum standards for preparing new recruits to work in nursing homes.

Carers who help with tasks such as washing and dressing elderly people in their own homes will also be required to have the training, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Lamb, the Liberal Democrat care minister, said it was not acceptable that there were no "clear standards of the training that must happen in a care home".

He said: "I would not want a loved one of mine - or indeed myself - to be cared for by someone who has no training."

Criminal prosecutions must follow in the "most outrageous" cases of abuse but reforms are needed to improve the quality of care more widely in nursing homes and in pensioners' own homes, he said.

But Mr Lamb said the new regime must not create "a tick box" culture.

A Department of Health spokesperson told Sky News: "No one should feel that they or their loved ones have to settle for poor quality care.

"Whilst there are many providers that deliver high quality care, more needs to be done to make improvements across the board.

"There are no excuses for failing to keep people safe from abuse or not treating them with kindness, dignity and respect."

Campaigners want all staff to have training in dispensing medication, promoting dignity, the basics of nutrition and hydration, and using equipment such as hoists and lifts.

The reforms, expected by the end of the month, follow a number of scandals involving the treatment of the elderly.

Similar arrangements could be introduced in hospitals after Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted to end the ability of nursing assistants to "give hands-on care in a hospital ward with no training at all", the newspaper said.

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Abu Qatada Arrested For 'Breaching Bail'

Abu Qatada has been arrested for allegedly breaching his bail conditions, days ahead of a new Government attempt to have him deported.

The radical cleric, who has been convicted of terror charges in Jordan, was arrested by UK Border Agency officials on Friday following raids by the Metropolitan Police Service Counter Terrorism unit.

Searches at two residential homes and a business in northwest and west London began on Thursday, while a search on a third property in northwest London is ongoing, Scotland Yard said.

The searches were carried out in connection with ongoing inquiries by the Counter Terrorism Command, a spokesman for Scotland Yard said.

However, no arrests have been made in connection with the police investigation, he added.

The Home Office said: "The UK Border Agency arrested a 52-year-old man from north London for alleged breaches of his bail conditions imposed by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC)."

He added that the breach will be considered by SIAC at the earliest opportunity.

Qatada was reportedly arrested by officials outside his family home in London.

The Sun newspaper showed pictures of him being escorted out of his house with his hands hidden under a jacket.

Qatada is due to appear at the Court of Appeal on Monday for Home Secretary Theresa May's attempt to overturn a judge's decision to allow him to stay in the UK.

Ms May will challenge the decision in front of three Court of Appeal judges led by Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls.

Once described by a Spanish judge as "Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe", Qatada has used human rights laws to fight deportation for more than a decade.

SIAC decided last November that Qatada could not lawfully be deported to Jordan, where he was convicted of terror charges in his absence in 1999.

SIAC judges ruled there was a danger that evidence from Qatada's former co-defendants Abu Hawsher and Al Hamasher, said to have been obtained by torture, could be used against him in a retrial in Jordan.

He was granted bail following the ruling by three SIAC judges and released from Long Lartin prison in November last year, returning to his home.

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Bath Ambulance Crash: Boy Badly Hurt

A boy was seriously injured after being hit by an ambulance as it answered a 999 call.

The child, believed to be 10-years-old, suffered "significant" head injuries in the accident with the South Western Ambulance Service vehicle in Bath, Somerset, just after 4pm this afternoon.

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said he was taken to the city's Royal United Hospital after the accident at the junction of London Road and Snow Hill near the River Avon.

"Due to the serious condition of the patient, police gave permission for the ambulance to leave the scene to take him to hospital," she said.

"Clearly our primary concern is for the patient and his family - senior executives from South Western Ambulance Service have travelled to Bath and will offer to meet with the family."

"We are also ensuring the crew involved are fully supported. We are also working closely with the police to ensure the circumstances surrounding this serious incident are fully investigated."

The child was later transferred to the Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, which has a specialist trauma unit, where he was said to be in a stable condition.

Avon and Somerset Police said London Road was closed in both directions while they investigated the crash and advised motorists to avoid the area.

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Police Hunt For Missing 10-Year-Old Boy

Police are appealing for the public's help to trace a missing 10-year-old boy.

Shaequan Farquarson was last seen at about 8am on Wednesday on Mauldeth Road, Withington, in Manchester.

The youngster is described as black, 4ft 10in tall, with dreadlocks and brown eyes.

He has a Manchester accent and a one inch scar over his left eye.

When he was last seen he was wearing a blue anorak, blue jogging bottoms and white trainers.

Anyone who has seen him, or who knows of his current whereabouts is asked to call police on 101.

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Gucci Ram-Raid: Sloane Street Shop Targeted

Ram-raiders have smashed their way into the flagship London store of luxury fashion brand Gucci.

The car was driven into the Sloane Street boutique on Wednesday night, the Metropolitan Police said.

Three suspects fled the scene and no arrests have yet been made.

It is not clear if anything was taken, although police are treating the raid as a burglary.

Pictures taken at the scene showed a black Mercedes with its headlights switched on facing the entrance to the store.

Gucci opened its Sloane Street branch more than 20 years ago.

Some of the Italian company's handbags sell for more than £2,000, while women's shoes can cost upwards of £700.

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Deer Cull Urged By Experts As Numbers Soar

By David Crabtree, Sky Correspondent

Experts are urging drastic measurers to cull the soaring deer population in Britain.

New research suggests that only by killing 50-60% of the animals can their numbers be kept under some control.

The number of deer in the UK is estimated at 1.5 million - meaning a cull could result in more than 750,000 animals being shot.

They are having a damaging effect on woodland and farmers' crops. They are also causing an increasing number of accidents.

Each year about 450 people are injured or killed on the roads and more than 14,000 vehicles are severely damaged as a result of collisions with deer.

Research Fellow Kristin Waeber, from the University of East Anglia, said: "I think deer belong in the landscape, but if we let the deer numbers increase even more, then we have to make a decision that we lose our woodlands, our bluebells, our oxlips, because the deer will just eat them.

"So are we okay in compromising that in just having a lot of deer about? I think it is important to keep a balance."

The common red deer is Britain's largest land mammal

She says the deer are disturbing the ecology so much that native birds are being wiped out. The fact that nightingales are now so rare is largely blamed on deer.

Thetford Forest has about 14,000 deer in 52,000 acres. They shoot about 2,000 a year and the bodies are sent to local game dealers.

Trevor Banham, chief wildlife ranger at Thetford Forest, said: "We have a part to play in this. We have to try to manage this population and if we don't, we have this process that is going on now where they are starting to go out of control.

"It is needed, the cull is needed all the time."

The RSPCA says it is opposed in principle to the killing or taking of all wild animals unless there is strong evidence to support it.

It is urging controlled methods, where a cull must be taken on a case-by-case basis. They do not want it to be rolled out in a uniform way across the country.

Although they were kept on private land belonging to the nobility, native wild deer were virtually unknown in England for 1,000 years until their re-introduction by the Victorians.

Today, there are more deer in the UK than at any time since the Ice Age.

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Sex Abuse Panel Formed In Wake Of Savile Case

By Mark White, Home News Correspondent

Police and prosecutors are to set up a special panel to review historic sex abuse allegations in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The measure is part of a radical overhaul designed to reform the way in which child sexual abuse in particular is handled within the Criminal Justice System.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC told Sky News that there needed to be a "national consensus" over the proper approach the authorities should adopt in the investigation and prosecution of sex offences.

In a speech later to charities, campaigners and government officials, the DPP will set out proposals aimed at rebalancing the way in which alleged victims of abuse are dealt with.

Mr Starmer said: "Police and prosecutors have significantly improved the way we investigate and prosecute sexual offences in recent years, particularly those involving children.

"The results have been encouraging with more cases being brought to court, higher conviction rates and more defendants pleading guilty. Yet, despite all this, events over the last 12 months raise fundamental questions about our approach to these cases."

The Jimmy Savile abuse scandal has been a shocking illustration of the level of isolation many victims feel.

Keir Starmer said there were "fundamental questions" to be answered

Few victims came forward at the time and those who did said their claims were dismissed by the authorities.

The measures being announced, which are a response to the Savile affair and other scandals - like the grooming and abuse of young girls by a gang of men in Rochdale - are aimed at helping to reassure victims their claims will be taken seriously.

Mr Starmer said: "We are clear that the yardsticks for testing the credibility and reliability of victims in sexual abuse cases do not serve the police or prosecutors well and risk leaving an identifiable group of vulnerable victims unprotected by the criminal law."

Jon Bird, who has devoted his life to helping those affected by child sex abuse, helps run the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac).

The charity, based in London, deals with around 7,000 potential abuse victims each year.

He knows more than most how those victims feel. Mr Bird was raped by a stranger when he was just four. He said he was not believed at the time and the issue was brushed under the carpet.

A few years later, he was abused by an adult while at boarding school.

Jon Bird, who was abused as a child, now helps other victims

He did not report the abuse at the time because he did not think people would believe him: "I didn't talk about it until I was into my thirties and that is because I hadn't been taken seriously the very first time I tried. So when it happened again I just thought what's the point in trying? And that's pretty typical from what we hear on our support line."

The measures, announced by the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Association of Chief Police Officers, will include what has been described as "a radical clearing of the decks".

All existing policy on child sexual abuse will be decommissioned and replaced by one overarching and agreed approach, which will be followed by investigators and prosecutors across England and Wales.

Enhanced training will also be given to ensure there is no gap between policy and practice.

A national scoping panel will be established to review complaints made in the past, which were not sent for prosecution. If asked to review a case, the panel will aim to determine whether a prosecution can still be brought.

Chief Constable David Whatton, the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on violence and public protection said: "The police service is acutely aware that trust and being believed are key to victims of sexual offences having the confidence to report such crimes.

"When victims do come forward it is important to ensure that we provide the best response and that includes supporting victims while at the same time ensuring that we do not compromise a fair trial process for the accused.

"Key to that is working closely with other parts of the criminal justice system to ensure we can secure best evidence and best criminal justice outcomes."

The NSPCC and other child protection groups have welcomed the proposals and have said they will work with the police and prosecutors to help draft the new policy.

Although many within child protection and victims support are enthusiastic abut the changes, for the authorities this is still a tricky area, as the rights of those accused of what can be very damaging allegations must also be protected.

However, Mr Starmer said he now believed the Criminal Justice System was heading in the right direction.

He said: "We cannot afford another Savile moment in five or ten years' time. Whatever approach is now agreed it has to be fully informed, coherent, consistently applied across the country and able to withstand the test of time."

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Miliband: Low-Skill Immigration Is Too High

Britons must get a "fair crack of the whip" when it comes to competing for jobs with immigrants, Ed Miliband will say later.

In a party political broadcast, the party leader will admit Labour got the immigration issue wrong while in power and should not have dismissed the concerns raised by ordinary people.

He will insist that diversity is "good for Britain", but will say that migration needs to work for all of the country's people, not just some.

Reducing the number of low-skilled migrants coming to the UK will be part of Labour's "new approach" to the issue.

Tougher enforcement of the minimum wage will be among the measures he suggests, along with tighter controls on employment agencies to stop migrant workers being brought in from overseas to undercut homegrown staff.

Miliband: 'Rules need to be fair'

The broadcast - to be shown on TV channels in England this evening - comes ahead of a major speech by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper on Thursday, in which she is expected to set out a raft of new policies.

These include more prosecutions and higher fines for paying less than the minimum wage, as well measures to tackle "gangmasters" employing illegal migrants in the social care, hospitality and construction industries - including a ban on housing workers in over-crowded accommodation.

Ms Cooper is also expected to detail proposed reforms of the immigration system and action to improve the training of UK workers so they can fill jobs in shortage occupations.

Aides said Labour's "long thought-through" approach contrasted with the "kite-flying" of Government ministers, who have floated a range of possible initiatives to limit Romanian and Bulgarian immigration when the countries' nationals gain full freedom of access to the UK at the end of the year.

Labour argues that policies must address the key "pull-factor" for low-skilled migrants, which is the availability of work.

In his broadcast, Mr Miliband will say: "Britain's diversity is a source of our great strength. It makes us a more successful country.

"But people can lose out if migration isn't properly managed. The pace of change can be too fast or people can see their wages undercut.

"Low-skill migration has been too high and we need to bring it down.

"That means the maximum transitional controls for new countries coming in from eastern Europe; it means properly enforcing the minimum wage so people aren't brought here to undercut workers already here; and it means let's give proper training to workers already here so that they have a fighting chance of filling the vacancies that exist.

"There's nothing wrong in employing people from abroad, but the rules need to be fair so that local people get a fair crack of the whip."

Mr Miliband will promise a boost to English language teaching to new migrants, along with an English-speaking requirement for all state employees working face-to-face with the public.

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Mortar Bomb Plotters 'Absolutely Reckless'

Police in Northern Ireland have condemned a foiled mortar bomb plot as "absolutely reckless".

Army bomb disposal experts were called to the Letterkenny Road area of Londonderry after the four live devices were discovered in the back of a van last night and around 100 homes were evacuated.

"These people were absolutely reckless," said Chief Superintendent Stephen Cargin.

"They were prepared to drive a van with four live mortar bombs, ready to go, through a built-up area in Derry city, putting the lives of thousands of people at risk.

Chief superintendent Stephen Cargin said the plot was "absolutely reckless"

"It doesn't even bear thinking about what we could have been looking at today in terms of the consequences of these devices had they exploded."

He added: "These people are voices of the past, and there's no future for them."

Sky's Ireland correspondent David Blevins said: "It would appear that police have managed to thwart yet another attempted attack by dissident republicans."

Three men have been arrested, including two 37-year-olds and a 35-year-old. One was the driver of the van, another was following on a motorbike. The third was arrested elsewhere in Derry.

A bomb disposal robot pictured at the scene

Police are urging anyone who may have seen a white Citroen Berlingo Van (registration 99D 88526) and a black Honda CBR motorcycle (registration LIB 3341) to contact them.

Blevins added: "The police realised very quickly that they had intercepted the mortars primed for an attack in the vehicle which has a Southern Irish registration number plate.

"The foiled attack bears the stamp of dissident republicans who are opposed to the political settlement in Northern Ireland.

"Until recently, there were three different factions - the Real IRA, the Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann (soldiers of Ireland) - but they are reported to have amalgamated into one group calling itself The New IRA.

The discovery was made on the outskirts of Londonderry

"The timing of any attack would be significant given that we are just four days away from a Westminster by-election in Northern Ireland in the mid-Ulster constituency - the seat which was formerly held by Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness.

"That indeed may have been why a possible attack was being planned by those opposed to the peace settlement."

The four contenders for Thursday's by-election are Sinn Fein Assembly Member Francie Molloy, independent Nigel Lutton, the Social Democratic and Labour Party's Patsy McGlone and Eric Bullick of the cross-community Alliance Party.

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British Army Bases In Germany To Close By 2019

British Army's History In Germany

Updated: 10:27pm UK, Monday 04 March 2013

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

The British Army arrived in Germany after the end of the Second World War to control the British zone of the country.

It became known as the Rhine Army or BAOR because of the location of bases in West Germany. Its first Commander-in-Chief was one Field Marshall Montgomery.

In the early years, relations between locals and occupiers were completely non-existant.

The British were not allowed to socialise with Germans. To ensure these strict rules were followed, bases were like small towns and everything was catered for - shopping, entertainment, schooling, you name it.

So separate were the two cultures, and such was the British loathing of Germany, that the military even had its own currency to avoid money going into the German economy.

It was also a reflection on the number of serving military in the country at the time. At its height the BAOR numbered 150,000 personnel and that is not including wives and children.

The Cold War followed some years later and Germany became the frontline against the communist threat from the East. Soldiers based there remember training for an imminent Soviet invasion and practising drills in the event of a nuclear strike.

As the years went on, and Germany rebuilt itself, relations softened and soldiers were allowed to fraternise with German women. Naturally some ended up marrying each other and that hasn't changed a bit.

In the late 1980s it became a target for a new enemy. Ten people were killed in attacks by the IRA between 1988 and 1990. This campaign only ended when two Australian tourists were shot dead after being mistaken for off-duty British soldiers.

In recent times Germany has been an important staging post for British forces as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have demanded a change in focus.

Any soldier of a certain generation is likely to have spent some time in Germany, whether posted there on a more permanent basis or just in the country on exercise.

The well known sports broadcaster Barry Davies began his future career whilst serving in Germany. He commentated on inter-regimental sports matches for the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) radio and so a vocation began.

The relationship between the British military and the Germans was one that started from the lowest point imaginable but has grown into one of shared resources and outlook.

They arrived as occupiers, became guests, and will leave as friends.

By 2019, a long and entwined history, will come to and end.

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Al Sweady Inquiry Into Iraq War Abuse Claims

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

An inquiry into whether British soldiers committed war crimes during the Iraq War will finally begin in public today, more than three years after it was first ordered.

The Al Sweady Inquiry will be the largest of its kind to date. It will focus on the events of May 14, 2004 and what happened in the hours after.

On that day, British soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were ambushed while on patrol in southern Iraq by the Mahdi Army.

Reinforcements sent in to help from the Prince of Wales's Royal Regiment were also caught in an ambush.

A close-quarter and fierce four-hour fight ensued, at one point the British soldiers fixed bayonets to their rifles and charged their enemy - the first time that had happened since the Falklands Conflict.

It became known as the Battle of Danny Boy, named after a nearby checkpoint.

No British soldiers were killed but 28 Iraqis were and a further nine were taken prisoner.

It is alleged that some were then tortured and in the case of six, murdered, while in British custody at Camp Abu Naji.

Accounts of what happened differ dramatically. The inquiry will endeavour to come to a definitive conclusion.

Over the years there have been accusations and counter-claims from both sides, all of which have resulted in a delay to proceedings.

The incident was initially investigated by the Royal Military Police and latterly the Iraq Historic Allegations Team.

But the independence and objectivity of that was brought into question by lawyers who successfully argued that some of the investigators might have conflicting motives. And so the Al Sweady Inquiry was commissioned by the former defence secretary Bob Ainsworth.

More than 50 Iraqis will give evidence, some in London but the majority in Beirut later in the year. Around 200 British military witnesses will also be questioned.

The inquiry has been named after one of the alleged victims, 19-year-old Hamid al Sweady.

The inquiry chairman, former High Court judge Sir Thayne Forbes, is hoping to report his findings by Christmas 2014.

By then it is estimated that the inquiry will have cost £25m.

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Mortar Bombs Found In Van In Londonderry

Sky sources say at least three mortars have been found in the back of a van on the outskirts of Londonderry.

Sky's Ireland correspondent David Blevins said: "It would appear that police have managed to thwart yet another attempted attack by dissident Republicans.

"A huge security operation has been under way for several hours now but in the last few minutes Sky sources have confirmed to us that police intercepted at least three mortars last night."

One hundred families have been evacuated from their homes and three people have been detained, including two men aged 35 and 37.

Blevins added: "We are being told by local people in the Letterkenny Road area that police stopped the van and there is some suggestion they stopped a motorbike at the same time" before they made the arrests.

"The police realised very quickly that they had intercepted the mortars primed for an attack in the vehicle with a Southern Irish registration number plate."

The Army bomb squad was called in to defuse the devices.

"The timing of any attack would be significant given that we are just four days away from a Westminster by-election in Northern Ireland in the mid-Ulster constituency - the seat which was formerly held by Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness," Blevins said.

"That indeed may have been why a possible attack was being planned by those opposed to the peace settlement."

The four contenders for Thursday's by-election are Sinn Fein Assembly Member Francie Molloy, independent Nigel Lutton, the Social Democratic and Labour Party's Patsy McGlone and Eric Bullick of the cross-community Alliance Party.

More follows...

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Councils 'Not Providing Enough Childcare'

More than two thirds of councils are failing to provide enough childcare for working parents, campaigners for families' rights have warned.

Only one in five local authorities have enough childcare for parents with children under two, and just one in three for school-age children, according to the Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute.

And just one in seven have enough childcare for disabled children - a figure that has not improved in five years, it said.

The charity's chief executive, Anand Shukla, said the shortage is linked to the financial squeeze.

"Councils across England and Wales are failing families by presiding over a continuing shortage of high-quality, affordable childcare," he said.

"Local authorities have a legal duty to ensure a sufficient supply of childcare in their areas, but no doubt their failure to do so is linked to the tight financial squeeze they find themselves in, with ever more austere funding settlements.

"Only the Government can address this situation by investing more in providing support for parents."

Britain has some of the highest childcare costs in the world.

Figures published recently by the Department for Work and Pensions showed that a third of parents who want to work more cannot because they are unable to find affordable childcare.

The Government is set to announce childcare reforms

As part of coalition efforts to cut childcare costs, staff are to be able to take charge of six two-year-olds rather than four, while the ratio for children under the age of one will go up from three to four

But the charity's Childcare Costs Survey 2013 suggests such plans will have little impact on childcare costs.

Mr Shukla said: "Staffing costs are only part of a complicated picture, so allowing adults to look after more children at once is not only a risky idea, but an ineffective one too.

"With private and non-profit childcare providers exposed to the full force of a harsh business economy, we doubt whether parents will ever see any of the money saved by cutting nursery staff."

Ministers have still not finalised a much-heralded, wider shake-up of childcare funding and tax breaks.

The Government will make an announcement soon, a spokesman said.

"We are reforming the childcare system so that providers have more flexibility when they have highly qualified staff and childminders are better supported," he said.

"Ratio changes, which are not compulsory, will allow providers to have the flexibility to increase pay for better qualified workers.

"High quality providers will be able to expand and more childminders will enter the market - this will mean parents have more affordable childcare."

The charity's study will be published on Wednesday.

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PM Meets Families Facing Poverty At Food Bank

By Ian Woods, Senior Correspondent

The Prime Minister has made a secret visit to his local food bank, after criticism that Downing St does not understand the increasing role they are playing in 'Austerity Britain'.

Mr Cameron visited the charity which operates out of a church hall in his constituency in Oxfordshire, and spoke to volunteers who supply up to 10 families each week with emergency food parcels.

Nationally, the use of food banks has grown, with the largest operator the Trussell Trust now running 310 centres. The trust helped 260,000 people in the past year, an increase of 60,000 on the year before.

The Witney food bank was set up by Jo Cypher, who told Sky News: "We've had people coming in saying we've had a choice this week, either we buy electric, we buy gas, we pay bills, or we eat."

Her colleague Julie Walker-Lock said they were helping a variety of people. "We're seeing from the elderly down to the families with young children. We've had a barrister in - he'd been looking after his wife and she'd passed away and he'd lost everything, and he came here, and we helped him out."

Melody Hopkins is one of the those who has used the Witney food bank. She told Sky News she was a victim of domestic violence, and then lost her job as a carer for disabled people.

More and more people are relying on food banks

Despite receiving benefits and child tax credits, she said she struggles to pay rising food and heating bills, and care for her eight-year-old son Toby who requires daily medication for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. She found it difficult to make the transition from wage earner to welfare recipient.

"My wages had stopped, so I had to wait for the benefits to kick in. We were desperate, we didn't have any food. At one point I had a fiver, in my back pocket, to just go and get some food.

"It's sad to think that I used to work, I used to do three meals a day, it was great, and now it's come down to one meal a day, because Toby gets free lunch at school. So I haven't eaten today - I'll eat later with him. I have gone without because Toby comes first ... it's sad when I can't give Toby the food he wants."

But difficulties in finding childcare after school for a child with special needs means Ms Hopkins cannot get a full-time job, so she does voluntary work instead.

"I don't want to be on benefits, I want to go back to work and do a job. I've always worked. This is the only one or two years I haven't had a job," she said.

The food bank in Witney is housed in a church hall

Ms Hopkins added that she shops for clothes once a year, gets furniture from charity shops and avoids big supermarkets. 

"Every aisle is temptation, you need to go around those shops and not even look at the prices. I can't do that. I go in with a basket and it's the bare essentials - can we make tea out of what we've got? And you see people walking out with big trolleys and you think OK, I haven't got that, we've got what we need and we will go," she explained.

To help as many people as possible, and to avoid dependency, food banks permit only three visits per year, and recipients have to have been referred by a charity or other agency. GPs are now prescribing food as well as medicine to patients.

Dr Raj Kohli, from the Deer Park Medical Centre in Witney, told Sky News: "I do come across families who are struggling to appropriately feed their children. Particularly with fresh fruit and vegetables, it's expensive.

"We're not necessarily seeing the physical effects of malnutrition at this stage, but they are struggling. We need to look at their immediate needs, and a food bank can help their immediate needs."

Food bank user Melody Hopkins prepares a meal

Witney is not the sort of place you might expect to find poverty. The Cotswolds town has only 909 people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and its unemployment rate is less than half of the national average. 

But there are enough people struggling to make ends meet to mean the food bank has become a vital resource. Even the local Brownie pack saved loose change and then put all their money together to buy tins of food to give to the poor. Shoppers and supermarkets both donate groceries which can be used in food parcels.

The volunteers at the Witney food bank were sworn to secrecy about the Prime Minister's visit, and no cameras were present.

But they said that he listened to their comments about why the food bank was needed and their fears that changes to the benefits system in April could bring a fresh influx of people who find it hard to pay their bills.

Previously, a Downing St spokesperson has said: "Benefit levels are set at a level where people can afford to eat. If people have short-term shortages, where they feel they need a bit of extra food, then of course food banks are the right place for that. But benefits are not set at such a low level that people can't eat."

Affluent Witney is not necessarily where you would expect to find poverty

Volunteer Julie Walker-Lock told Sky News "I think that was a very ill-informed statement they made. There is a genuine need for us to be here." 

Ms Cypher said: "We were glad he came, because I think he was blind to the fact that, like everybody else, supposedly Witney is very rich. It's actually quite the opposite, it's not.

"I think he went away with a better understanding of how the system works and why we're here. I'm hoping that we went away with some of those thoughts, and he will act on them."

For those who use the food banks, items like pasta and tins of soups can be an essential part of their diet.  But sometimes it's having an occasional treat which can lift people out of depression. An unexpected Christmas hamper made all the difference to Ms Hopkins and her son.

"To everybody else they're not luxuries, but to me and my son they were luxuries. They were things I wanted to buy but couldn't afford to buy, and it brought some tears to our eyes.

"Christmas Day we just had a standard chicken. Most people have turkey, we didn't, we had tinned veg. I mean, it was OK, but we had the little extras like a cracker each, and mince pies. My son was like 'I got sweeties' and I actually wrapped them up and put them in his stocking - that's how important it is to us," she said.

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