Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to UN Sustainable Development Goal 2.1 to by 2030 end hunger and ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round, what steps her Department is taking to tackle child hunger.

The Government actively supports the provision of nutritious food in schools. Free school meals are provided to the most disadvantaged pupils as well as to every pupil in reception, year 1 and year 2. We are also investing £10 million a year into school healthy breakfast clubs.

The new School Food Standards regulations came into force on 1 January 2015 and can be found at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made.

The regulations apply to local authority maintained schools, academies that opened prior to September 2010 and academies and free schools entering into a funding agreement from June 2014. The School Food Standards regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and at other times of the school day, including, for example, breakfast clubs, tuck shops, mid-morning break, vending and after school clubs.

This Government is committed to ensuring that the welfare system is a strong safety net for those that need it; that is why it continues to spend over £90 billion a year on benefits for people of working age.

Work remains the best route out of poverty and we are introducing major reforms including Universal Credit to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work.

This Government’s policies means that there are now 608,000 fewer children in workless households compared with 2010.