Food Poverty: Coronavirus

(asked on 20th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on trends in the level of food insecurity among children since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 28th October 2020

This Government is committed to supporting the most vulnerable in society. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions engages regularly with her counterparts, including the Secretary of State for Education.

Secretaries of State will continue to talk across government to ensure all the levers available are used to tackle poverty, including for the most disadvantaged children and families. The Department for Environment and Rural Affairs also established a cross-government Task Force on Food and Other Essential Supplies for Vulnerable People.

We have taken unprecedented action to support and protect jobs, with over 9.5 million people having been supported through the furlough scheme. The Department for Work and Pensions quickly introduced a package of support, including welfare changes worth £9.3bn this year to help people with the financial consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Government established a £500m local authority hardship fund to protect people, by banning evictions, securing mortgage holidays and helping with energy bills. It has provided a further £63m to local authorities in England for their Welfare Assistance schemes to help those families struggling to afford food and other essentials.

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