Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ensure food security for families In Northern Ireland in absolute poverty.

Food security is a devolved matter and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has responsibility in Northern Ireland.

In the absence of locally accountable leadership in Northern Ireland, the UK Government has stepped in to set a Budget for 2022/23 which has an overarching objective of protecting the most vulnerable during a time of particular economic hardship

The Budget Bill introduced in Parliament on 12 January 2023 is a critical step to ensure Northern Ireland departments can access their full funding for the year. But the absence of devolved functioning institutions is an unsustainable situation that the UK Government wants to see resolved by the restoration of local leadership as soon as possible.