Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of people identified as being clinically extremely vulnerable to covid-19 who have registered (a) to indicate that they require support getting the food and/or other essentials they need and (b) but do not require support; and how many of those vulnerable people are receiving food and basic supplies through (i) supermarket deliveries, (ii) Government or local authority food parcels and (iii) other support.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The shielding programme was put in place to protect clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) people – those who have been advised by the NHS not to leave their homes, because they are at a high risk of developing complications from coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. Overall 2.2 million individuals have been identified as needing to shield. Of this group, approximately 350,000 have registered a need for essential supplies making the individual eligible for a priority slot for a supermarket delivery or food boxes, which they may cancel at any time.
In total over 2 million food boxes have been successfully delivered to CEV individuals since March. We are continuing to work with supermarkets to increase delivery capacity.
We do not hold centrally information on deliveries of food parcels by local authorities, total number of individuals benefiting from supermarket deliveries, or other support received by CEV individuals.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which supermarkets are participating in the COVID-19 national voucher scheme for children eligible for free school meals; and what the eligibility criteria are for supermarkets.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Our latest guidance on providing free school meals is available at the following link:
Through the national voucher scheme, schools and families could initially access eGift cards for Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and M&S. On Monday 27 April Aldi were added to this scheme and on Wednesday 29 April McColl’s were also added.
We continue to work with a wide range of supermarkets to encourage them to join. In order to be part of the scheme they are required to have the right infrastructure to deliver eGift cards in a uniform way across their network of stores.
If families are not able to access any of the supermarkets which are part of the national voucher scheme, schools are able to purchase vouchers directly for alternative supermarkets. They can be reimbursed for the cost of these alternatives through the schools’ coronavirus exceptional costs fund, up to £15 per pupil per week. This funding covers unavoidable additional costs incurred to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from existing resources. Further information can be found here:
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is he taking to ensure that all those who have registered with the Government as extremely vulnerable are contacted by supermarkets for priority deliveries.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The shielding programme was put in place to protect clinically extremely vulnerable people – those who have been advised by the NHS not to leave their homes, because they are at a high risk of developing complications from coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. Anyone who believes they meet the criteria of extremely clinically vulnerable but who has not received a letter from the NHS should contact their GP.
We have now delivered over 1 million parcels to those in this group who advised that they were unable to access food and continue to support these people. We have also shared the details of individuals who register to receive food parcels with supermarkets so that they can be prioritised for home delivery slots.
The Government is working with a partnership of the food industry, local government, local resilience forums and emergency partners, and voluntary groups, to ensure that essential items can be delivered as quickly as possible to those who need it. For example, just under 600,000 people are now registered as verified NHS Volunteer Responders to help support people who are struggling to access food
Defra is working closely with charities to estimate the supply of food to charities and demand for food from users of those charities. On 3 April Defra launched a £3.25 million grant opportunity to help surplus food redistributors with infrastructure and associated support to help get more food to charities working on the front line in supporting vulnerable people in need. Additionally, the Government has announced up to £16 million to provide millions of meals over the next 12 weeks. These will be delivered through charities including FareShare and WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme).
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are working closely alongside the agricultural industry to ensure that we understand and manage the impacts to the industry.
Defra has been in close discussion with banks to ensure the farming sector has access to financial support to ease cashflow problems during this period, including through the Government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan scheme, which was announced on 27 April and is the latest step in a package of support measures announced by the Chancellor. The Government will provide lenders with a 100% guarantee on each loan, to give lenders the confidence they need to support small businesses. These loans will be from £2,000 up to £50,000, capped at 25% of firms’ turnover, and the Government will cover the first 12 months of interest payments and fees charged to the business by the lender. Almost all UK businesses will be eligible to apply for a loan under the scheme.
In March, Defra worked with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to introduce new measures to support businesses in the food sector to keep food supply flowing on to shelves and into homes. These included a temporary relaxation of competition rules to allow supermarkets to work together. The legislation to bring in this change was introduced on 27 March and has a retrospective effect from 1 March.
In April, we temporarily relaxed further elements of competition law to support the dairy sector during this period. Legislation was laid before Parliament on 1 May to enable collaboration between dairy farmers and producers, supporting them to adapt to changes in the supply chain including decreased demand from the hospitality sector. The legislation will apply retrospectively from 1 April 2020.
On 6 May, Defra announced a new fund to support English dairy farmers who have seen decreased demand because of the loss of the food service sector. Dairy farmers access this funding for those qualifying months, with no cap set on the number of farmers who can receive this support or on the total funding available. Eligible dairy farmers who have lost more than 25% of their income over April and May because of coronavirus disruptions will be eligible for funding of up to £10,000 each, to cover around 70% of their lost income during the qualifying months to ensure they can continue to operate and sustain production capacity without impacts on animal welfare. The Welsh Government announced the opening of a similar scheme on 12 May.
The availability of this funding followed the launch on 5 May of a joint Government and Devolved Administrations backed £1 million campaign aiming to boost milk consumption and help producers use their surplus stock. This 12-week campaign is being led by Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and Dairy UK. This follows a similar ongoing campaign led by AHDB and retailers to promote the consumption of beef products.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether people identified as clinically extremely vulnerable can access priority slots at (a) one or (b) any supermarket.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
People who register as clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) either online or via the helpline, and indicate that they need help to access food, will have their details shared with supermarkets. The participating supermarkets are: Asda, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose.
Supermarkets will check these details against their own customer databases and flag anyone who matches. They will then contact the CEV individual and offer them priority access to online delivery slots. The individual should be matched with any supermarket that they are already registered with, and they may choose which they wish to use. Work is in hand to address the needs of people who do not have a pre-existing relationship with any supermarket.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2020 to Question 39481 on Food Supply: Coronavirus, whether the Government has plans to enable members of the public to receive a priority supermarket slot, without the need to register for free food packages, in cases where free food packages are not necessary.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Members of the public who have received a letter advising that they are clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) can register to say that they are unable to get essential supplies delivered, and those individuals’ details are shared with supermarkets to match them with priority delivery slots.
This system was designed with safety in mind to ensure that CEV individuals, who have been advised to stay at home at all times, could get essential supplies delivered to their homes if they had no alternative means of obtaining food. If an individual who is shielding obtains a priority supermarket slot, they can easily de-register from the system through the GOV.UK platform or by rejecting a box when delivery is attempted. The food package will be re-delivered to the next person in need.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to bring forward (a) limits on and (b) eligibility requirements for funding reimbursed and refunded to schools that procure free school meals from retailers not included in the National Voucher Scheme.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure, and this will ensure they are able to meet their regular financial commitments, while delivering the provision required during this unprecedented period.
Where possible, schools are encouraged to work with their existing suppliers to provide meals or food parcels. If they are unable to use this, we have developed a national scheme to provide supermarket vouchers via the Edenred online portal. This portal allows schools to directly order vouchers to be sent to families for use at Aldi, McColl’s, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and M&S. Schools will not have to pay for these vouchers as the costs of this scheme will be picked up centrally by the Department for Education.
We recognise that it may not be convenient or possible for schools in some areas to use these supermarkets. Where schools use their own alternatives to the national voucher scheme they are able to claim for additional costs incurred in supporting free school meal pupils. As set out in our guidance, schools will be able to claim up to a certain limit, depending on their number of pupils, and where they are unable to meet these additional costs from their existing resources. In exceptional instances where individual schools face additional costs that are higher than the grant’s limits, schools will be able to able to apply to increase their limit. The full additional costs guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, from which budget he plans to reimburse funding for schools procuring free school meals from retailers not included in the National Voucher Scheme.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure, and this will ensure they are able to meet their regular financial commitments, while delivering the provision required during this unprecedented period.
Where possible, schools are encouraged to work with their existing suppliers to provide meals or food parcels. If they are unable to use this, we have developed a national scheme to provide supermarket vouchers via the Edenred online portal. This portal allows schools to directly order vouchers to be sent to families for use at Aldi, McColl’s, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and M&S. Schools will not have to pay for these vouchers as the costs of this scheme will be picked up centrally by the Department for Education.
We recognise that it may not be convenient or possible for schools in some areas to use these supermarkets. Where schools use their own alternatives to the national voucher scheme they are able to claim for additional costs incurred in supporting free school meal pupils. As set out in our guidance, schools will be able to claim up to a certain limit, depending on their number of pupils, and where they are unable to meet these additional costs from their existing resources. In exceptional instances where individual schools face additional costs that are higher than the grant’s limits, schools will be able to able to apply to increase their limit. The full additional costs guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-schools.
Asked by: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to work with supermarkets to ensure that anyone at increased risk from COVID-19 or with a disability under the Equality Act 2010, of any age, and their carers, has priority access to home deliveries and stores if they need it.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government's response to food vulnerability caused by COVID-19 is built around three categories of vulnerability: Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV), other Non-Shielded Vulnerable (NSV), and the economically vulnerable.
Individuals in the CEV group are those who have a medical condition that is deemed to put them at very high risk of COVID-19 related serious illness. This group has been asked to 'shield' by the Government until at least the end of June, meaning they need to stay at home at all times and minimise all contact with others, including other members of their household.
There are around 2.2. million people in England who fit into this group. The majority will have received a letter from the NHS or been contacted by their GP to inform them of their vulnerable status. The group comprises people of all ages - with extreme respiratory conditions (such as cystic fibrosis), certain types of cancers (such as leukaemia), those who have had organ transplants, as well as a range of other conditions or medical histories.
Many within this group have local family and friends who can get the vital provisions needed. There is a significant subset of the CEV group however who do not. Individuals in this group can register as extremely clinically vulnerable with the Government. Data from these registrations is shared with supermarkets on an ongoing basis, whereby supermarkets provide individuals with access to priority access to booking slots for delivery. The vast majority of supermarkets are engaged in this data-sharing initiative.
Individuals in the NSV group are those who are unable to access food and other essential supplies due to a COVID-19 related change in physical or financial circumstance.
We have been working quickly with local authorities, retailers, food businesses and the voluntary sector to support those who do not necessarily fall into the shielded category, but who may be struggling to access food and essential supplies as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. We have been careful to ensure that the definition of non-shielded food-vulnerable people includes those who are unable to access food due to the impact of COVID-19 on food services and delivery, as well as those who are in temporary isolation or enhanced social distancing. This group would include disabled people whose disabilities make it difficult for them to comply with social distancing requirements in food shops or whose access to food has been compromised by COVID-19. This could be a result of increased delivery demand, or their usual support networks being unable to help due to self-isolation or social distancing.
This group of non-shielded vulnerable people are now able to access food in a variety of ways, including through being paired with volunteers who will shop for them, and through food deliveries from local retailers, wholesalers and food businesses, many of whom will be able to take orders over the phone. We have also been working with retailers to enable these individuals to access priority delivery or click and collect slots.
Over 750,000 people have signed up as NHS Volunteer Responders via the mobile app GoodSam. Verified volunteer responders can receive tasks to help those in their communities, including through shopping for vulnerable people for food and essential supplies. Health and care professionals and a number of approved Voluntary and Community Services organisations are now able to refer vulnerable individuals into the system to receive support from volunteers. It is now also possible for individuals to self-refer for assistance from the programme, if they consider themselves to be vulnerable and in need of support.
Supermarkets have also been working at pace to expand the total number of delivery and click and collect slots. Most supermarkets are offering prioritised delivery or click and collect slots to those they have identified as vulnerable from their customer database (for example by age, shopping habits, previous use of vulnerable customer helplines).
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of including patients that are recovering from major operations in the list of vulnerable people that are eligible for covid-19 support.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Chief Medical Officer has led a thorough clinical review process to identify six categories of underlying clinical conditions which place someone at very high risk of severe illness if they contract COVID-19. Those who are recovering from major operations are not automatically included in the list of extremely clinically vulnerable people, as they will have a wide range of needs. For some, staying at home at all times and avoiding contact with others may slow their recovery. General practitioners and hospital clinicians have the discretion to add individual patients to the list based on careful, clinical assessments of each individual’s needs.
The Government and civil society are providing additional support to people even where they are not clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19. This includes providing local authorities with £3.2 billion additional funding for service pressures, strengthening links with supermarkets, and mobilising over 750,000 National Health Service volunteers. The Government has also launched a new set of webpages for those who need additional support due to the pandemic across a range of issues, which are regularly updated at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support