Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of potential gaps in the provision of free period products in schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Period Product Scheme is open to all state-funded primary schools, secondary schools and 16-19 organisations so that girls and women can have access to a wide range of period products in their place of study.
Take up of the scheme is monitored and reviewed regularly. Since its launch in January 2020, 99% of secondary schools and 94% of 16-19 organisations have used the scheme. Management information is published annually and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-scheme-management-information. The national supplier, phs, makes contact with all eligible schools and colleges annually to advise them of the scheme and provide details on how to order.
Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 28 April 2022 (HL7975), what plans they have to resume the activities of the Period Poverty Taskforce.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This Government takes the issue of period poverty very seriously and we are taking steps to ensure that period products are available and affordable for those most in need through the organisations closest to them.
Since January 2020, a Department for Education scheme provides free period products in schools and 16-19 education institutions in England. 97% of secondary schools, 92% of post 16 organisations and 68% primary schools have made at least one order since the scheme began in January 2020.
In March 2019 NHS England announced that it would offer period products to every hospital patient who needs them (including long-term in-patients).
As part of our wider strategy to make period products affordable and available for all women, we have also made it clear that a zero rate of VAT applies to period products now that the UK has left the EU. These products are essential so it is right that there is now no VAT charge.