Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is her policy to allow Household Support Fund allocations to be used by local authorities to purchase (a) slow cookers and (b) kettles.

In England, the Household Support Fund is a scheme providing discretionary support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water and to support with essentials linked to these for example, energy efficient items which reduce bills and the purchase of equipment such as slow cookers.

Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have set out for the fund. This is because they have the ties and the knowledge to best determine how support should be provided in their local communities.