Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the extent to which healthy start vouchers cover the cost of powdered baby milk products.

The Healthy Start scheme is a targeted scheme which helps to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, families and children under four from low income households. Healthy Start beneficiaries receive one £3.10 voucher every week. Children aged under one receive two vouchers, worth £6.20 in total, every week. These vouchers can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of:

- Plain cow’s milk - whole, semi-skimmed or skimmed. It can be pasteurised, sterilised long-life or UHT.

- Plain fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables. These can be whole, chopped, packaged or loose.

- Cow’s milk-based infant formula milk. This must be labelled as suitable for use from birth.

The Department has made no assessment as to whether Healthy Start vouchers cover the cost of powdered baby milk products.