Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of 4 March 2019 by the hon. Member for South Shields, Official Report, column 749, what plans the Government has to respond to the Food Insecurity Bill; and if she will make a statement.

The Honourable Member’s Bill is scheduled for Second Reading on Friday 22 March. It is not usual practice for the Government to make a statement on a Private Member’s Bill.

The Department for Work and Pensions has been working with a number of food security experts, the Office for National Statistics and the Scottish Government to introduce, from April 2019, a new set of food security questions in the Family Resources Survey. This means that, from Spring 2021, the Government will be able to monitor the prevalence and severity of household food insecurity at a national level and for specific groups, so that it can better understand household food needs. The survey questionnaire is regularly updated so that it provides the best possible evidence base to support policy-making and it isn’t normal practice to announce any survey changes that are made as a result.