In the Lords

I refer the noble Lord to my previous answer.

The noble Lord makes an important point. There are many job vacancies, not least in the area we are discussing.

The noble Lord knows that I cannot commit to any such thing, but I reiterate that the Chancellor has pulled together a package amounting to

The noble Lord makes an important point.

I thank the noble Lord for his comments, and he is right: tackling poverty in all forms is a key priority for this and any Government.

My Lords, I am aware of the study the noble Lord cites, but I do not pretend to be an expert in this area.

My Lords, I first acknowledge the work that went into that report.

There has been a lot of talk about self-sufficiency, so I looked into this to see what changes there have been in recent years.

My Lords, food prices are driven by many factors, including agricultural and manufacturing costs.

The noble Baroness is right that there has been year-on-year food price inflation, with rises of 6.7% in April, up from 5.9% in March.