Food Poverty: Children

(asked on 2nd November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the factors resulting in parents being unable to afford to feed their children.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 10th November 2020

Building on the significant support given to the most vulnerable during the pandemic, a new £170m Covid Winter Grant Scheme has been created to support children, families and the most at risk over winter. The funding will be ring-fenced, with at least 80% earmarked to help with food and bills, and will cover the period to the end of March 2021.

The Holiday Activities and Food programme, which has provided healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children since 2018, will also be expanded across England next year. It will cover Easter, Summer and Christmas in 2021, and cost up to £220m. It will be available to children in every local authority in England, building on previous programmes – including this summers, which supported around 50,000 children across 17 local authorities.

In May, the Government provided £16m to charities to provide food for those struggling due to the immediate impacts of the pandemic. Earlier this month, a further £16m was announced to fund local charities through well-established networks and provide immediate support to front-line food aid charities who have a vital role to play in supporting people of all ages.

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