Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help people with food prices.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is taking forward a range of actions to help address food prices by tackling the underlying drivers of cost and supporting access to affordable food.
The department is working closely with the Department for Business and Trade to assess how regulation affects food businesses and food prices, through the Food Inflation Gateway. This work is helping to identify where burdens can be reduced or sequenced more effectively. Alongside this, through the Good Food Cycle, Defra set out priority outcomes focused on improving access to healthy, affordable food and strengthening local food systems.
More broadly, the Government is providing targeted support to help households manage food costs. From April, the value of Healthy Start will rise by 10% to provide greater support for pregnant women and young children, alongside work with retailers to expand access to healthy, affordable food. Free School Meals will be extended to around half a million additional pupils, saving families up to £495 per child annually and lifting approximately 100,000 children out of relative poverty. The Holiday Activity and Food Programme will also continue with £600 million in funding.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of food poverty over the last 12 months.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
We published the Good Food Cycle in July which identified ten priority outcomes needed to build a thriving food sector while tackling a range of food related challenges. Improving food price affordability and access, in particular targeting costs that lead to food price inflation and supporting those who most need access to healthy affordable nutrition, is a key priority.
From 1 April 2026, we are introducing a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis, to support our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels. The Crisis and Resilience Fund Guidance for local authorities was published on 13 January 2026, enabling local authorities to prepare for delivery in line with the new fund.
The removal of the two child limit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty across the United Kingdom, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in our Strategy, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.
The most recent official statistics show for the United Kingdom, in 2023/24, 7.5m individuals lived in food insecure households. The rate is unchanged on 2022/23 but the total number of individuals living in food insecure households has increased by 300,000.
The most recent official statistics show for the United Kingdom, in 2023/24, 2.8m people, were living in households where a food bank has been used in the 12 months prior to the interview, up by 500,000 since 2022/23.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of temporary accommodation available in Gloucester; and what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the time people spend in temporary accommodation in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This government inherited a homelessness crisis with record numbers in temporary accommodation. Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets out how we will get back on track to ending homelessness by tackling its root causes. We are building 1.5 million homes, including a generational increase in new social and affordable homes. We have set out a new 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme backed by a £39 billion investment. We will also increase the supply of good quality temporary accommodation and support resettlement through the £950 million Local Authority Housing Fund.
Legislation and statutory guidance are clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. Authorities receiving out-of-area placements must be notified in accordance with the law: this is not a tick-box exercise but should involve engagement with the receiving authority where necessary to minimise disruption and promote the welfare of any children. The former Deputy Prime Minister wrote to councils in November 2024 to remind them of this duty and made clear that failures to notify are unacceptable, as they put additional pressure on services and risk the safety of those placed.
In October 2025, we provided £10.9 million funding for 61 local authorities to support families and children in temporary accommodation, including those placed out of area, making a tangible impact on their quality of life whilst they remain in need. This will fund a range of interventions to support families to access basic facilities, including Wi-Fi, laundry services, travel passes for school, improved communal spaces for homework and recreation and assistance with paying for food and leisure facilities.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on the mental and physical health impacts of placing households in temporary accommodation outside of their local area.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This government inherited a homelessness crisis with record numbers in temporary accommodation. Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets out how we will get back on track to ending homelessness by tackling its root causes. We are building 1.5 million homes, including a generational increase in new social and affordable homes. We have set out a new 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme backed by a £39 billion investment. We will also increase the supply of good quality temporary accommodation and support resettlement through the £950 million Local Authority Housing Fund.
Legislation and statutory guidance are clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. Authorities receiving out-of-area placements must be notified in accordance with the law: this is not a tick-box exercise but should involve engagement with the receiving authority where necessary to minimise disruption and promote the welfare of any children. The former Deputy Prime Minister wrote to councils in November 2024 to remind them of this duty and made clear that failures to notify are unacceptable, as they put additional pressure on services and risk the safety of those placed.
In October 2025, we provided £10.9 million funding for 61 local authorities to support families and children in temporary accommodation, including those placed out of area, making a tangible impact on their quality of life whilst they remain in need. This will fund a range of interventions to support families to access basic facilities, including Wi-Fi, laundry services, travel passes for school, improved communal spaces for homework and recreation and assistance with paying for food and leisure facilities.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure that children and young people in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme, b) Staffordshire and c) England learn about farming, agriculture and food at school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Food education is covered primarily within Design and Technology, and elements of food education, farming and agriculture can also be covered across Biology, Geography and RSHE in the national curriculum.
The curriculum requires that pupils learn about healthy eating, where food comes from, nutrition and sustainability. Schools also have flexibility within the broad framework of the national curriculum to tailor curriculum subjects to meet the needs of their pupils.
Additional resources are available from Oak National Academy, who have recently developed a new cooking and nutrition curriculum package. This has been designed by experts to give access to practical, engaging lessons covering food preparation, cooking techniques, and healthy eating.
In the recent response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the department set out that it will be ensuring that the programmes of study for cooking and nutrition, which will be renamed food and nutrition, are more specific and prepare pupils for life and potential future careers in the food sector.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of holiday club places in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Through our Plan for Change, the department is committed to giving every child the best start in life. We have confirmed over £600 million for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme for the next three financial years from 2026/27, which equates to just over £200 million each year. In addition, we are providing local authorities with £12.9 million of funding in the 2026/27 financial year to help ensure sufficiency of school-age childcare. This includes supporting the delivery of sufficient holiday childcare by fostering links between holiday childcare and the HAF programme to maximise opportunities to create efficiencies and deliver a sustainable school-age childcare market.
It is the duty of local authorities, under The Childcare Act 2006, to secure sufficient childcare provision to meet the needs of working parents in their area for children up to the age of 14 (or 18 for disabled children). Local authorities have flexibility in how they deliver provision to best meet local needs.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Giving every child the best start in life, updated on 12 September 2025, whether the review of early years funding will include an assessment of food costs within the funding formula.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
To make sure that the early years (EY) funding system properly supports those children and parts of the country that have higher levels of additional need, the department will review EY funding, including the EY national funding formulae, consulting on a set of changes and publishing full details by Summer 2026.
Within EY, free school meals (FSM) applies to school-based nurseries (SBNs) for children who attend both before and after lunch. As part of the expansion of FSM, the department has announced that children in SBNs whose household is in receipt of Universal Credit, will be eligible for FSM from September 2026.
Beyond the provision of FSM, the statutory guidance makes clear that funding for the entitlements does not cover consumables like meals, so providers can ask parents to pay, provided they are not mandatory or a condition of accessing an entitlements place. As such, the cost of consumables will not fall within the scope of the planned review of EY funding.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has issued guidance to schools following the inquest into the death of Benedict Blythe.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has not issued any guidance to schools following the inquest into the tragic death of Benedict Blythe.
The department encourages schools, colleges and settings to use resources such as those published in the allergy guidance for schools as part of their work to fulfil their statutory duties to manage allergy risks. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/allergy-guidance-for-schools.
The government has committed to reviewing the statutory guidance on supporting pupils with medical conditions at school (2015), and we intend to consult on revised guidance. The current guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
Our aim is to ensure that schools are better equipped to support all pupils with medical conditions as part of our wider ambition to create more inclusive schools through the forthcoming Schools White Paper.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reintroducing a milk strategy for schools.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only
Milk is an excellent food for children’s growth and development. As part of the School Food Standards, lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk must be available to children who want it for drinking at least once a day during school hours. It is a legislative requirement that milk is provided free of charge to pupils who meet the free school milk criteria, and schools may charge all other pupils.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs leads the School Milk Scheme Strategy, which supports the provision of milk in schools. The strategy aims to support the consumption of dairy products by children from an early age to promote healthy eating habits and good nutritional health, and support efforts to tackle child obesity by part subsidising, or reimburse in full where relevant, the cost of a daily portion of dairy in line with national guidance. The Strategy also sets out who the support is targeted at and the eligible products that can be supported.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce (a) free and (b) subsidised meal provision in (i) private, (ii) voluntary and (iii) independent early years settings for children from low-income households.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We have introduced the Best Start in Life strategy, and the Child Poverty strategy was published on 5 December 2025.
The department is extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026.
This significant extension of support will also apply to children attending school-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools.
Whilst children attending a private nursery do not currently receive free school meals, the department has tightened statutory guidance to make clear that while providers can charge parents who are accessing entitlement hours for certain optional extras, including food, these charges must not be mandatory or a condition of accessing their entitlements. If parents do not wish to purchase these from their provider, they should discuss with their provider what alternative options are available, including potentially supplying their own food and consumables.