Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the (a) Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of making additional funding available to low-income households to help cover increases in the cost of food.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.

We understand concerns about food inflation, and its impact on the costs of living. That’s why tackling inflation is this government’s number one priority, with a plan to more than halve inflation this year, and we’re monitoring all key agricultural commodities so that we can work with the food industry to address the challenges they face.

The Government recognises the pressures people are facing and has acted, providing total support of over £94bn over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living. In April 2023 we uprated benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1 per cent, as well as increasing benefit cap levels by the same amount.

Through regular engagement, Defra will continue to work with food retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. For example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures.