Asked by: Connor Rand (Labour - Altrincham and Sale West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the child poverty taskforce will examine food insecurity.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to tackling poverty and reducing mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
Our Ministerial Taskforce, jointly chaired Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, has started urgent work on an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy and will explore all available levers to drive forward actions across government to reduce child poverty, tackle its root causes and give every child the best start in life. The Strategy will be published in Spring 2025.
We have already spoken to food poverty experts at a roundtable hosted by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 30th July, to understand the priorities in this area.
Alongside the Child Poverty Taskforce, our initial steps to support families and children include free breakfast clubs in every primary school, so children don’t go hungry, protecting renters from arbitrary eviction and banning exploitative zero hours contracts. Good work will be the foundation of our approach and the New Deal for Working People will ensure the minimum wage is a genuine living wage, and reformed employment support will mean that many more people will benefit from the dignity and purpose of employment.