Food: Prices

(asked on 7th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what forecast he has made of trends in food prices in the UK for 2022.


Answered by
Helen Whately Portrait
Helen Whately
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 17th January 2022

The government is taking targeted action worth more than £4.2 billion a year over the next 5 years to help families with the cost of living. This includes the £500 million Household Support Fund (October 2021 to March 2022) to help vulnerable households with costs for essentials over the winter. The fund is ringfenced so that at least 50 per cent of it will be spent on households with children and should primarily be used to support households in the most need with food, energy, and water bills.

The government continues to maintain a zero-rate of VAT on many food and drink products, including fresh fruit, vegetables, cereals, meat, bread, milk, tea and coffee.

The government monitors consumer food prices using the ONS Consumer Price Index published statistics.

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