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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the oral Answer from the right hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners to the hon. Member for York Central of 17 July 2014, what information her Department holds on how many (a) food banks existed and (b) people made use of food banks in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

There are no official figures for the number of food banks or for people who have made use of them. The provision of food aid ranges from small, local provision, through to regional and national schemes. The greatest proportion is community-led provision responding to local needs. As such, the Government do not believe it is possible to keep records of the number of food banks or how many people made use of them.