Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which Departments are working on the development of a food strategy; which Department is leading this work; what the strategy's aims are; and what his planned timetable is for the completion of the strategy.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Addressing the issues the food sector faces requires a whole-of-government effort, so while Defra is leading the strategy we will be working in very close collaboration with several government departments. Our ambitious food strategy will set and deliver clear long-term outcomes that create a healthier, fairer, and more resilient food system. We will provide details of how the process will operate, how industry can engage, and what the milestones will be in the coming months.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase access to affordable fresh fruit and vegetables in deprived communities.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to creating the healthiest generation of children ever, as set out in our Child Health Action Plan. The Healthy Start scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four years old.
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) delivers the scheme on behalf of the Department. The NHSBSA is committed to increasing uptake of the Healthy Start scheme to ensure as many children as possible have a healthy start in life.
The NHSBSA promotes the Healthy Start scheme through its digital channels and has created free tools to help stakeholders promote the scheme locally. The NHSBSA has also reached out to stakeholders to see how it can support them in promoting the scheme. In December 2024, the Healthy Start scheme supported over 354,000 people.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the nature is of her Department's consultation with (a) charities representing disabled children and (b) disabled young people on the development of the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is co-chair, is building on the wealth of existing evidence and expertise across the UK to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We are listening carefully to the voices of children and families living in poverty, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Examples of the engagement we have undertaken are events with Contact, a charity for families with disabled children, ALLFIE, a campaign group focused on including disabled learners in mainstream education, and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, which aims to improve opportunities for young people with severe learning disabilities and their families.
The Taskforce recognises that poverty impacts the whole family so, alongside this, a forum of parents and carers has been brought together to input to the strategy. The approach has been designed to be inclusive and capture the experiences of a broad range of parents, carers and children, including those with SEND.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with which charities representing disabled children her Department has consulted on the development of the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is co-chair, is building on the wealth of existing evidence and expertise across the UK to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We are listening carefully to the voices of children and families living in poverty, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Examples of the engagement we have undertaken are events with Contact, a charity for families with disabled children, ALLFIE, a campaign group focused on including disabled learners in mainstream education, and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, which aims to improve opportunities for young people with severe learning disabilities and their families.
The Taskforce recognises that poverty impacts the whole family so, alongside this, a forum of parents and carers has been brought together to input to the strategy. The approach has been designed to be inclusive and capture the experiences of a broad range of parents, carers and children, including those with SEND.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with disabled children’s charities, in the context of the development of a child poverty strategy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which the Department of Education Secretary of State is Co-Chair, is building on the wealth of existing evidence and expertise across the UK to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We are listening carefully to the voices of children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEND) who live in poverty, as well as the charities and organisations that represent them. Examples of the engagement we’ve undertaken are events with: Contact, a charity for families with disabled children; ALLFIE, a campaign group focused on including disabled learners in mainstream education; and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation that aims to improve the life opportunities for young people with severe learning disabilities and their families.
The Taskforce recognises that poverty impacts the whole family so, alongside this, a forum of parents and carers has been brought together to input to the Strategy. The approach has been designed to be inclusive and capture the experiences of a broad range of parents, carers and children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with disabled young people, in the context of the development of a child poverty strategy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Poverty Taskforce, of which the Department of Education Secretary of State is Co-Chair, is building on the wealth of existing evidence and expertise across the UK to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty. We are listening carefully to the voices of children with disabilities and special educational needs (SEND) who live in poverty, as well as the charities and organisations that represent them. Examples of the engagement we’ve undertaken are events with: Contact, a charity for families with disabled children; ALLFIE, a campaign group focused on including disabled learners in mainstream education; and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation that aims to improve the life opportunities for young people with severe learning disabilities and their families.
The Taskforce recognises that poverty impacts the whole family so, alongside this, a forum of parents and carers has been brought together to input to the Strategy. The approach has been designed to be inclusive and capture the experiences of a broad range of parents, carers and children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the additional costs to families for raising a disabled child.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP pays close attention to the evidence base on the extra costs faced by disabled children, including external academic research but does not endorse a particular external study.
For example, Scope’s Disability Price Tag (2023) uses a sensitive economic modelling methodology called the standard of living approach. They state that a family with a disabled child would have to pay £581 a month to have the same standard of living as a family with a non-disabled child. For 1 in 5 families, these costs can exceed £1000 per month. The existing evidence base that uses similar methodologies produce a wide range of estimates of this cost, ranging from £600 to £1,500 per month, reflecting a high degree of uncertainty around the true additional costs faced by families raising a disabled child.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many times UK ambassadors have met Organisations of Persons with Disabilities in the past year.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We do not collect data on the engagement with organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) across the FCDO network of overseas Posts. However, Posts are encouraged to promote all equalities issues globally, including disability inclusion, and engage directly with OPDs regularly. Since the merger of FCO and DFID, a substantial new programme of capability building on how to do this has been established, including a 'how to note' on engaging with OPDs specifically.
Engagement is increasing but the FCDO has further to go. Recent examples include the Ambassador in Jakarta's meetings with OPDs and disability inclusion partners on at least four occasions over the last year; and the High Commissioner in Rwanda's meeting with a group of local OPD representatives to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities earlier this month.
The Minister for Development has also included meetings with OPDs where possible during her travel schedule, including meeting an organisation of women with disabilities in South Sudan, and visiting OPDs in South Sulawesi, Indonesia who are receiving technical assistance from the FCDO's Disability Capacity Building Programme.
We will launch a refreshed version of the FCDO's Inclusion and Rights Strategy at the Global Disability Summit in Berlin in April 2025. The voices and agency of people with disabilities will remain a core focus of the strategy and of our wider work on disability inclusion.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many and what proportion of UK Ambassadors have met with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities in the past year.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We do not collect data on the engagement with organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) across the FCDO network of overseas Posts. However, Posts are encouraged to promote all equalities issues globally, including disability inclusion, and engage directly with OPDs regularly. Since the merger of FCO and DFID, a substantial new programme of capability building on how to do this has been established, including a 'how to note' on engaging with OPDs specifically.
Engagement is increasing but the FCDO has further to go. Recent examples include: the Ambassador in Jakarta has met with OPDs and disability inclusion partners on at least four occasions over the last year; and the High Commissioner in Rwanda, who met a group of local OPD representatives to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities earlier this month.
I have also included meetings with OPDs where possible during my travel schedule, including meeting an organisation of women with disabilities in South Sudan, and visiting OPDs in South Sulawesi, Indonesia who are receiving technical assistance from the FCDO's Disability Capacity Building Programme.
We will launch a refreshed version of the FCDO's Inclusion and Rights Strategy at the Global Disability Summit in Berlin in April 2025. The voices and agency of people with disabilities will remain a core focus of the strategy and of our wider work on disability inclusion.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish a list of embassies ranked by the number of times they have met Organisations of Persons with Disabilities in the last year.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We do not collect data on the engagement with organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) across the FCDO network of overseas Posts. However, Posts are encouraged to promote all equalities issues globally, including disability inclusion, and engage directly with OPDs regularly. Since the merger of FCO and DFID, a substantial new programme of capability building on how to do this has been established, including a 'how to note' on engaging with OPDs specifically.
Engagement is increasing but the FCDO has further to go. Recent examples include the Ambassador in Jakarta's meetings with OPDs and disability inclusion partners on at least four occasions over the last year; and the High Commissioner in Rwanda's meeting with a group of local OPD representatives to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities earlier this month.
I have also included meetings with OPDs where possible during my travel schedule, including meeting an organisation of women with disabilities in South Sudan, and visiting OPDs in South Sulawesi, Indonesia who are receiving technical assistance from the FCDO's Disability Capacity Building Programme.
We will launch a refreshed version of the FCDO's Inclusion and Rights Strategy at the Global Disability Summit in Berlin in April 2025. The voices and agency of people with disabilities will remain a core focus of the strategy and of our wider work on disability inclusion.