CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO AFFAIRS – FOODBANKS & WARM HOME DISCOUNT - 19 June 2025

ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO AFFAIRS – FOODBANKS & WARM HOME DISCOUNT - 19 June 2025

Sir Julian Lewis: Yesterday, as the Minister probably knows, food bank groups associated with the Trussell Trust lobbied – very effectively  – Members on both sides of the House. My local group, the Waterside foodbank, impressed on me the gap between the £92, which the Government believe a single person is estimated to need to survive, and the £120 that the food bank believes is necessary for a single person to be able to survive alone. Can the Minister give an indication as to what extent the gap between those two figures will be closed as a result of this initiative?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Miatta Fahnbulleh): I thank the right hon. Member for a very good question. We know that families are struggling with the cost of living. We know that families are in poverty, and that many are having to make the choice between heating and eating. We are trying to put in place a range of measures, and the warm home discount – this £150 – is part of it. We have extended free school meals to families on means-tested benefits. We are rolling out breakfast clubs. There is a range of things that we are trying to do as a Government to ensure that people who are struggling and who have been struggling for a long time are lifted out of poverty. We are very clear about our ambition. Every time Labour comes to power, our record is that we lift people out of poverty, and we will continue to do that.]