Business of the House

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 27th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There are still several colleagues trying to contribute and I am keen to accommodate them. I just remind the House that there are two debates to take place today under the auspices of the Back Bench Business Committee, the first of which in particular is extremely heavily subscribed, so there is a premium, both in this session and subsequently, on brevity.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Two weeks ago, the Leader of the House told me that the reason food bank use had trebled in the last year was that the Government were now advertising in job centres that food banks were available. To explore this further, may we have a debate to explain why, in Hull, police and retailers have been reporting a serious increase in food theft? Is it down to shops advertising food better?

[Mr Lansley]

Oh well, sarcasm does not always read so well in Hansard. The hon. Lady will find that I said this was one of the reasons—[Interruption.] One of the reasons for the increased take-up of food banks was that the previous Government did not allow relevant information and material to be made available in jobcentres, while this Government did. That is the simple fact of the matter.