Food Poverty
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that food insecurity data informs cross government anti poverty strategy.
Answered by Dame Diana Johnson
Robust data is crucial to inform cross government anti-poverty strategy and policy design.
The Households Below Average Income and Family Resources (HBAI) publication provides annual high-quality official statistics which are used to track a range of measures, including poverty, food security and food bank use. Statistics on the number of individuals living in food insecure households in the UK were first introduced in 2019/20.
Food insecurity is an important element of poverty, that is recognised in the Child Poverty Strategy with its focus on driving down the cost of essentials. Both our Child Poverty Strategy and action to address the manifesto commitment to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels, draw on high-quality data produced in the HBAI that covers poverty, food insecurity and food bank use.
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