Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of research by Oxford University, published by The Trussell Trust in October 2017, on the effect of benefit sanctions on food insecurity and food bank usage.

The report, which was published on 27 October 2016, does not provide evidence of a causal link between benefit sanctions and the use of food banks. In the year to September 2016 the number of JSA sanctions has halved.

We know the most effective route out of poverty is work. That is why we are determined to help people find employment through a wide range of support targeted to each individual’s personal circumstances.