Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the criteria for foodbanks to be included within official foodbank statistics.

The department’s official statistics on food bank use are published via the annual Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics, Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK using data from the Family Resources Survey (FRS), Family Resources Survey - GOV.UK. They measure whether a household has used a food bank in the past 30 days or 12 months.

Respondents are asked whether they have used a food bank in the past 30 days/12 months. The questionnaire instructions make it clear that informal support with food supplies via family and friends and vouchers provided by local authorities and other organisations that are not food banks should not be counted as food bank use.