Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost of increasing the value of Healthy Start vouchers in line with inflation each year since 2009.
The increase in the value of the Healthy Start voucher from £3.10 to £4.25 in England is estimated to cost an extra £25.8 million in 2021/22. This cost estimate is based on current uptake of Healthy Start and may change, as Healthy Start is a demand-led scheme.
This will provide additional support to pregnant women and families on lower incomes to make healthy food choices.