Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the level of dependence on emergency food parcels.

We are committed to tackling poverty and reducing mass dependence on emergency food parcels.

On 30 July, the Secretary of State held a food poverty roundtable with key food poverty stakeholders to understand the key priorities in this area.

We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into food poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.

Additional steps include our plans to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introduce a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.

In addition, on 17th July, we announced our joint ministerial taskforce, jointly chaired Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, to begin work on an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy, to reduce child poverty, tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start in life.

The Taskforce’s publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we are developing the Strategy, exploring all available levers across Government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty this parliament. This is part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change which will be published in the Spring.