Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the impact of food insecurity on the cost of food.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The United Kingdom has a highly resilient food supply chain. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. Defra has a collaborative relationship with industry which allows us to effectively respond to disruption, should it occur.
Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. This report will serve as an evidence base for future policy work.
The report recognises the contribution made by British farmers to our resilience, and the importance of strong domestic production to our food security. It considers the UK's food supply sources overall, noting that domestic production and diversity of supply are both important to our food security.
We continue to monitor food prices using the ONS inflation figures.
International commodity prices are heavily influenced by factors such as energy costs and exchange rates. Given sustained pressures, we anticipate food prices continuing to trend upwards until early 2023 and then begin to fall gradually.
Defra is taking action to maintain an efficient food supply chain by mitigating against any potential burdens or friction which could otherwise drive-up consumer food prices.
Through regular engagement, Defra will continue to work with food retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. For example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures.
Food prices are set individually by businesses. It is not for HM Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies. Rising food prices are dependent on a combination of factors including agri-food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, exchange rates, domestic labour and manufacturing costs.
The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes.
We understand that people are worried about the cost-of-living challenges ahead which is why the Government has announced decisive action to support households.
To protect the most vulnerable, the Chancellor recently announced a package of targeted support worth £26 billion, which includes continued support for rising energy bills.
More than eight million households on means-tested benefits will receive a cost-of-living payment of £900 in instalments, with £300 to pensioners and £150 for people on disability benefits.
This is in addition to the existing £1.5 billion to help households with the cost of essentials, including food.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of (a) a reduction in public expenditure and (b) the cost of living crisis on children in food poverty.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Chancellor makes regular assessments on the impact of public expenditure on services and policies in the UK.
At the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor has taken a responsible and disciplined approach to spending whilst prioritising vital public services and the most vulnerable. Over the Spending Review period, overall departmental spending will continue to grow after inflation. This includes an additional [£2.3bn] of funding in 2023-24 and [£2.3bn] in 2024-25 for schools.
The Government also understands that people across the UK are worried about the rising cost of food, which is why we remain committed to supporting children including through:
This Government has also announced £37bn of support for cost of living this financial year, including a Cost of Living payment of £650 to households on means-tested benefits, with extra support for pensioners and those claiming disability benefits, and £500m to continue the Household Support Fund for a further 6 months, to allow Local Authorities to help the most in need.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the increase in absolute child poverty in (a) the North East and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made of child poverty in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber for 2020/21. Given the impact of the pandemic on the size and quality of sample data, DWP statisticians concluded that for several of the breakdowns it would be difficult to make meaningful assessments of trends and changes in 2020/21 compared with the pre-Covid position. The Chief Statistician has therefore taken the decision not to publish additional breakdowns for regional child poverty in 2020/21.
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. In 2022/23 we will spend over £242 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain including £108 billion on people of working age.
With 1.25 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting parents to move into, and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty. The latest available data on in-work poverty shows that in 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works.
In 2021, compared to 2010, there were nearly 1 million fewer workless households and almost 590,000 fewer children in workless households in the UK. In 2020/21, there were 200,000 fewer children in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than in 2009/10.
To help people into work, including parents, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all Jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1 million low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.
Around 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal, saving families around £400 per year. In addition, around 1.25 million more infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of universal infant free school meals. The National School Breakfast Provision programme (NSBP) is providing funding of up to £24 million in a two-year contract to continue our support for school breakfast provision until July 2023 supporting pupils in up to 2,500 schools that meet our criteria for levels of disadvantage.
The Government is also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Scheme by a third to £4.25 a week.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The government’s Energy Price Guarantee will save a typical British household around £700 this winter, based on what energy price would’ve been under the current price cap – reducing bills by roughly a third. This support will be in place from 1 October 2022 until 31 March 2023. A review will be launched to consider more targeted measures to support households with their energy bills after this period. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
The £37bn also includes up to £650 in cost of living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which have targeted support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits. In addition, 6 million eligible disabled people have received a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 and pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 alongside the Winter Fuel Payment from this month.
In collaboration with Local Authorities we have a well-established system of hardship payments, including the Discretionary Housing Payments, available as a safeguard for if claimants demonstrate they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs due to the rise in the cost of living. For those who require additional support, we extended the Household Support Fund in England, which will be providing up to £421m of support for those most in need for the period October 2022 - March 2023 and is being delivered by Upper Tier and Unitary Councils. In the case of South Tyneside, the local authority has been allocated £1,484,854.01 for this period. The devolved administrations have been allocated £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he will take to help take children out of relative and absolute poverty.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government has consistently said that the best way to support families’ living standards is through good work, better skills, and higher wages.
This is why, at Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced it will bring forward the nationwide rollout of the In-Work Progression offer, from September 2023. This will mean that over 600,000 Universal Credit (UC) claimants in-work will meet with a dedicated work coach so that they have support to increase their hours or earnings and become financially independent from UC. This is in addition to the Government’s existing, comprehensive package of labour market support, worth over £6 billion, to help people into work and develop the skills they need for the modern workforce.
From 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over, in line with the government’s ambitious target for the NLW to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, and for the age threshold to be lowered to those aged 21 and over. This represents an increase of over £1,600 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and is expected to benefit over 2 million low paid workers.
The Government also provides a range of support for low-income families with children, including over £200 million per year for the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides healthy food and enriching activities for children from low-income families in England during the school holidays. The government also spends around £1 billion annually on delivering free meals to pupils in schools.
More broadly, the Government has taken decisive action to support millions of households with rising energy costs. As announced at Autumn Statement, the Government is providing households on means-tested benefits with an additional £900 Cost of Living Payment in 2023-24 with additional payments for pensioners and those on disability benefits. The government will also provide an additional £1 billion to enable a further twelve-month extension to the Household Support Fund, as well as continued universal support via the Energy Price Guarantee, saving the average household £500 over 2023-24. To protect the most vulnerable in society, the government will also increase benefits by September CPI (10.1%) from April 2023.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional financial support they will provide to parents facing poverty, given the increased cost of living.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. In 2022/23 we will spend over £242 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain including £108 billion on people of working age.
With 1.25 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting parents to move into, and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty.
To help parents into work, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all Jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1 million low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.
To further support parents to move into and progress in work, the government provides a range of childcare offers. For more information on what childcare support may be available, we encourage parents to use the Childcare Choices website.
Around 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free, healthy and nutritious school meal, saving families around £400 per year. In addition, around 1.25 million more infants enjoy a free meal at lunchtime following the introduction of universal infant free school meals. The National School Breakfast Provision programme (NSBP) is providing funding of up to £24 million in a two-year contract to continue our support for school breakfast provision until July 2023 supporting pupils in up to 2,500 schools that meet our criteria for levels of disadvantage.
The Government is also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Scheme by a third to £4.25 a week.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs, and the Chancellor made clear it will continue to do so from now until April next year. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
The £37bn also includes up to £650 in cost of living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which have targeted support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits. In addition, 6 million eligible disabled people have received a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 and pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 alongside the Winter Fuel Payment from November.
For those who require additional support we have provided an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.
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 support is available to young people who are not able to afford food during the period of increases to the cost of living.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
With 1.25 million vacancies across the UK, Government’s focus is firmly on supporting people, including young people, into and to progress in work. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. Employment support is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to help. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households – including young people - with rising energy costs, and the Chancellor made clear it will continue to do so from now until April next year.
The Northern Ireland Energy Price Guarantee will provide households in Northern Ireland with equivalent financial support with their electricity and gas bills as for those in Great Britain beginning 1st November 2022 and backdated to 1st October 2022.
This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier in the year, which includes Cost of Living Payments of £650 (paid in two lump sums of £326 and £324) to more than 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits and £150 to individuals receiving disability benefits – including young people who are in receipt of eligible benefits. These payments are delivered UK-wide.
We recognise that some people may need further support, which is why the government has provided an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021. Of the £500m, the NI Executive is receiving £14m.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure people do not fall into food poverty.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. In 2022/23 we will spend over £242 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain including £108 billion on people of working age.
With 1.25 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting people to move into, and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.
To help people into work across Great Britain, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all Jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1 million low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.
This is on top of the support we have already provided by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour and giving nearly 1.7 million families an extra £1,000 a year, on average, through our changes to the Universal Credit taper and work allowances.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has provided over £37bn of support including up to £650 in cost-of-living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which have targeted support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits. In addition, 6 million eligible disabled people have received a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 and pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 through and as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment from November.
For those who require additional support the current Household Support Fund in England, which will be providing up to £421m of support to those most in need for the period October 2022 - March 2023 and is being delivered by Upper Tier and Unitary Councils. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.
The Government are also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Scheme by a third to £4.25 a week.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the level of food insecurity in the North East.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
With 1.25 million vacancies across the UK, Government’s focus is firmly on supporting people into and to progress in work. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.
Our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. To help those in work, the new In Work Progression offer will give 2.1 million low paid workers on UC to access to personalised work coach support to help them increase their earnings.
The government has taken further decisive action to help. The Energy Price Guarantee will provide further support to millions of households with rising energy costs and will continue to do so from now until April next year.
This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost-of-living support announced earlier in the year, which includes Cost of Living Payments of £650 (paid in two lump sums of £326 and £324) to more than 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits, £300 to pensioner households (through and as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment) and £150 to individuals receiving disability benefits.
For those who require additional support the government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of household essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021. In England this is taking the form of an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March. Sunderland will receive £2,673,561.91 for this latest Fund.
Other Local Authority allocations can be found here Household Support Fund Grant Determination 2022 No 31/3096 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people living in food poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the rising cost of living on the levels of food poverty in those areas; and what steps her Department is taking to alleviate food poverty levels in those areas.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
National and regional statistics on the number of food insecure households are published annually in the “Family Resources Survey” publication. Statistics on levels of food insecure households in England and the West Midlands, covering 2020/21, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2020-to-2021. Data for Coventry and the Coventry North East constituency is unavailable due to insufficient sample size.
No such assessments have been made of the effect of the rising cost of living on the levels of food poverty in these areas.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The new “Energy Price Guarantee” will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years from 1 October, saving the average household in Great Britain at least £1,000 from October. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
This includes a £650 cost of living payment (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and £324) which has been designed to target support at more than 8 million low-income households on means-tested benefits. The payment of £326 was paid between the 14 July and the 31 July for most people and the payment of £324 will be made in the Autumn. In addition, 6 million eligible disabled people will receive a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 from 20 September and pensioner households will receive a one-off payment of £300 through and as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment from November.
The government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of household essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England this will take the form of an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m. Devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.
The current Household Support Fund runs from 1 April to 30 September, with Coventry City Council allocated £3,224,222.30 for this period. During this period, a total of £49,520,715.25 has been allocated to West Midlands Local Authorities, which takes their total funding under both Household Support Funds to £99,041,430.50. Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own funds, within the parameters of the guidance and the grant determination.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what further poverty mitigating measures she is planning to support families who are subject to the benefits cap.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government is wholly committed to supporting people on lower incomes through a range of measures, including by spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22.
With around 1.25 million vacancies across the UK our focus is firmly on supporting people into and to progress in work as this is the best way to substantially reduce the risks of poverty. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has been expanded by £500 million, is helping people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects. The new 'Way to Work’ campaign is a national drive to get half a million people who are out of work into jobs in the next five months and, in doing so, supporting people take their next step to building a more secure and prosperous future.
The benefit cap provides a strong work incentive and fairness for hard-working taxpaying households and encourages people to move into work, where possible. Households can still receive benefits up to the equivalent salary of £24,000, or £28,000 in London. Exemptions apply to Universal Credit households if the household earnings are at least £617 each month and to Housing Benefit claimants that are entitled to Working Tax Credits. Households receiving disability benefits and/or entitled to carer benefits are also exempt to ensure the most vulnerable are supported.
Claimants that need additional support to meet rental costs can approach their Local Authority for a Discretionary Housing Payment. In addition, vulnerable households across the country can access a £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million.