Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mel Stride and Martin Docherty-Hughes

Monday 31st October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

I am not going to pre-empt my decision on the uprating of benefits or indeed the triple lock. We will need to wait until at least 17 November when my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will come to the House with his autumn statement and those details will be known at that point.

The right hon. Gentleman raises the family resources survey. One statistic that caught my eye was that the percentage of households with UC claimants who are in food security rose from 57% in 2019-20 to 73% in 2020-21. Any element of food insecurity is too much—I recognise that—which is why this Government and this Prime Minister are absolutely determined to use whatever we have at our disposal to work on those figures and to improve them. That includes the various interventions that we have already discussed during these questions.

[Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)]

8. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of social security payments in meeting the cost of living.