Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the availability and accessibility of Healthy Start vouchers for people within the immigration and asylum systems.

Asylum seekers are provided with accommodation and support to meet their essential living needs if they would otherwise be destitute. They are given free, furnished accommodation, and a weekly cash allowance (currently £40.85) to cover other essential living needs such as clothing.

In addition to this support, asylum seekers who are pregnant and young children aged between one year and three years each receive an additional £3 per week. Babies under one year receive an additional £5 per week.

Asylum seekers who are pregnant are also eligible to apply for a one-off £300 maternity payment within eight weeks of their due date or if their baby is under six weeks old. These payments are intended to allow supported asylum seekers to purchase healthy food such as fruit and vegetables.