Yesterday, Tuesday 19 December, Stephen questioned the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, about food bank use, support for low-income renters, and the Household Support Fund at the Liaison Committee.
The Liaison Committee aims to promote effective scrutiny of the Government and consists of the chairs of all other select committees in the House of Commons. The Committee usually interviews the Prime Minister three times a year. Stephen is on the Liaison Committee because he is the chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
Today at the @CommonsLiaison I asked the Prime Minister if he still hopes foodbank demand will be falling by the time of the election. pic.twitter.com/pUmAkAY9Gw
— Sir Stephen Timms (@stephenctimms) December 19, 2023
Stephen focused his questions on rising food bank use - a recent Trussell Trust report shows that food bank use has increased by 16% since last year.
At his first Liaison Committee appearance, in December 2022, the Prime Minister had told Stephen that he hoped to see food bank use falling by the time of the election. Stephen asked the Prime Minister if he still thought that was likely.
“When you came to the Committee for the first time a year ago,” Stephen said, “you said that you hoped that, by the time of the election, food bank demand would be falling. Do you think that is likely to be the case?”
The Prime Minister responded that he is “generally confident that the policies [that the Government] are putting in place are making a difference to help the most vulnerable,” however he suggested that inflation over the last year had tempered his hopes of food bank use falling.
Stephen also pushed the Prime Minister on policies to support low-income renters and families facing deprivation. He urged the Prime Minister to uprate the Local Housing Allowance, which sets how much housing benefit a person can receive to help them pay rent, annually. It was frozen for the last five years. He also asked the Prime Minister to consider extending the Household Support Fund - a scheme that help Councils offer support to families in deprivation.
“People have had to dig into other benefit income in order to pay the rent, because the housing support has not increased,” Stephen explained, “I think there is a very strong case for keeping it uprated.”