Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussion she has had with Cabinet colleagues on a cross-Government approach to reducing hunger; and if she will make a statement.

My officials have regular engagement with colleagues in other Departments including the Cabinet Office to ensure a coordinated approach to addressing food insecurity. DWP has, for example, worked with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Devolved Administrations as well as with the Office for National and Statistics a number of food security experts to introduce a new set of food security questions in the Family Resources Survey starting from April 2019, enabling us to monitor the prevalence and severity of household food insecurity at a national level and for specific groups from Spring 2021. The Government will shortly publish its response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report; “Sustainable Development Goals in the UK: Hunger, Malnutrition and Food Insecurity in the UK”