Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of food insecurity in (a) England and (b) the South East.

This government is committed to tackling poverty and reducing mass dependence on emergency food parcels.

Statistics on the proportion of people living in food insecure households at regional level are published annually in the Households Below Average Income statistics Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).