Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps through education settings to help reduce child hygiene poverty.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and to prosper.

On 17 July 2024, my Right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced the appointment of the Secretary of State for Work and Pension and the Secretary of State for Education to be the joint leads of a new ministerial taskforce to begin work on a child poverty strategy.

This urgent work has started and the ministerial taskforce will harness all available levers to drive forward short-term and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty, with a child poverty strategy published in spring next year.

The department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care to deliver supervised toothbrushing for 3 to 5 year olds in the most deprived communities. These programmes prevent tooth decay and encourage toothbrushing routines at home.

In addition, the period product scheme continues to provide schools and colleges with access to a wide range of period products for their learners. Since its launch in 2020, 99% of secondary schools and 94% of colleges in England have used the scheme.

Furthermore, the government has announced an extension of the Household Support Fund for a further six months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. In England, an additional £421 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Fund to support the cost of essentials, plus funding for the devolved governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.