food banks. &39local supermarkets refused to give us food that was past its sellby date lest they be sued if any illness results.&39 photograph danny lawsonpawhen david cameron launched his concept of the &ldquobig society&rdquo and urged people to become more engaged with local needs, there were many who were outraged. because they had been doing that for a long time already &ndash ever since the bible urged them to &ldquolove your neighbour as yourself&rdquo &ndash and did not need a politician to tell them about this great &ldquonew&rdquo idea.of course, it is always good to have more individuals involved in communal affairs, but the real problem is not that there are not enough people helping, rather that those who want to help are often prevented from doing so by legal impediments. my synagogue at maidenhead runs a weekly lunch for homeless people in the area, as do local churches on different days. we also support a food bank, but when we approached local supermarkets to give us food that was past its sellby date they refused, lest they be sued if any illness results, even though it is perfectly safe to eat.another food chain declined to give us unsold sandwiches that were still edible in case it left them open to prosecution if we did not handle them in line with hygiene regulations. this is despite the fact that those eating them would be doing so voluntarily, and who might otherwise be forced to scavenge food from dustbins. the problem has been exacerbated by a regulation regarding allergies that requires outlets to identify and label up to 14 types of allergens on food packaging. this climate of wellmeaning but overzealous health and safety policing is making voluntary groups nervous of potentially breaking the law, and considering abandoning some provisions.another area of intense frustration is crb checks for those who have contact with children and the elderly. they certainly must be made on teachers, youth leaders and care assistants, but the net is being spread too wide and is having the unintended consequence of discouraging volunteers. parents who bring other people&rsquos children to scouts or sports activities, as well as those who give elderly people lifts to local friendship clubs, are subject to formfilling and vetting. the response of many is either to be highly insulted at the implication they are under suspicion, or to say &ldquoi was just trying to help out, but don&rsquot want to be bogged down with all this &ndash ask somebody else&rdquo. the result is fewer people offering their services, activities being stymied and elderly people staying at home alone.what is needed is a good samaritan law, similar to that in the usa. chris grayling proposed something similar last year. legislation like this would try to marry health and safety concerns with common sense &ndash and, when the two collide, give precedence to the latter. it would override legislation that is intended to be helpful but that actually impedes. it would enable food shops to donate their products, allowing them to make a judgment that the risk of eating food slightly past its prime is less harmful than people going hungry. it would allow volunteers who wish to prepare food at home, freeze it and then bring it for use at a food bank centre to do so &ndash even if that is less ideal than food cooked in a highly supervised way.such a law would also bypass overcautious concerns about data protection &ndash as when a local hospital wanted to discharge a homeless person who had no bedding and nowhere to go. we wanted to make sure he was clothed, fed and given a sleeping bag. the hospital refused to tell him we wanted to speak to him because we were not family. they also did not ask his permission for them to speak to us, because they were worried whether he had the mental capacity to give them a correct answer. the result was that they ended up sending him out on the streets with no protection at all. utter stupidity.a good samaritan law would exempt voluntary bodies from burdensome regulations applicable to commercial enterprises, and permit decisions allowing the greater good to prevail. it would cut through selfdefeating rules and empower volunteers to deliver the help that is actually needed. 
