Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken since 8 December 2014 to act on the conclusion of the Feeding Britain report.
The Government welcomed the report as a serious contribution to an important debate, which recognised that the reasons behind demands for emergency food assistance are complex and frequently overlapping.
As the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced in his oral answer (Official Report, 8 December 2014, column 633), more information will be provided to claimants about Short Term Benefit Advances (STBA) online and in Jobcentres. Guidance will also be updated and staff reminded of the process for considering STBA requests.
The department has already undertaken testing of the posters and messaging with a small number of staff and claimants and the designs have now been reviewed by the Social Security Advisory Committee.