A report, backed by charity Church Action on Poverty, recommends five things to be done to tackle hunger.

It will be presented to parliament on Wednesday.

The charity’s director, Niall Cooper, told Premier why the appointment is necessary.

He explained: “When we had the Olympics for instance there was a minister for the Olympics – totally different kind of issue but cuts across half a dozen different departments.

“What we really want is someone within government who’s going to champion the issue and say ‘actually it is the role of government to do what we can to end hunger’.”

Cooper said there are gaps in our laws which mean food poverty doesn’t fall under anyone’s department.

The report states that since 2000 there has been a proliferation of charitable emergency food provision in the United Kingdom, which has expanded particularly fast since 2010.

A testimony in the report from Brian Wilson and Dawn Lumb who spoke at a drop-in centre in Leeds reads: “We come here on Mondays and Tuesdays,and sometimes on other days, and on Fridays we come for a meal and to see if there’s a class on.

“We mostly come for the meals and to talk to people.”

Cooper said this is becoming an all too familiar story.

The report was produced jointly with Dr Hannah Lambie-Mumford at the University of Sheffield and asked the government to take the following five key steps:

1. Appoint a minister or department charged with responsibility for…

The list brings together young people who are bringing innovation to their specific industry.

John Archer helped co-found Gather – pooling information already available on sanitation worldwide onto a virtual map so communities which are in most need of toilets are reached.

John and his co-founder Lindsey Noakes found out an hour before the Forbes launch party that they were on the list but still don’t know who nominated them.

“We would love to find out who nominated us!” John Archer said.

Describing their project he explained: “We are using data to get toilets to people who need them the most in emerging cities around the world”

“We access the data the sanitation sector already collects, we then take it, we analyse it and from that data we work out: where are the gaps? Where are there places and cities across the world where there’s absolutely sanitation provision at all? And then we let the major sanitation funders know that’s where they need to be directing their funding.”

John Archer said his faith helps motivate him: “I’ve always been inspired by women and men throughout history who have really taken the call for justice seriously and have decided to apply their brains, their skills, their networks to try and work out: how can we not just help those who are in situations of poverty but completely transform the sit around them so that’s no longer the case for…

Carl and Angel Larsen, from Minnesota, and their company, Telescope Media Group, filed an appeal on Friday to challenge a state law that allows the government to control the stories they tell.

According to ADF International, which is legally representing the couple, the law allows Minnesota to punish the Larsens with fines and jail time “if they create wedding films consistent with their Christian faith while declining to create wedding films promoting contrary views”.

ADF added that they asked a federal district court to get rid of the law while their case proceeds. However, the court denied that request and instead ruled in favour of the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed in 2016.

The Larsens have asked the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit to reinstate their lawsuit.

ADF Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco said: “The government shouldn’t threaten artists with fines and jail simply for living in accordance with their beliefs in the artistic marketplace.

“Americans should have the freedom to disagree on significant matters of conscience, which is why everyone, regardless of their view of marriage, should support the Larsens.

“Government is supposed to be freedom’s greatest protector, not its greatest threat. That’s why we are asking the 8th Circuit to reverse the district court’s decision.”

Minnesota Department of Human Rights officials have…