Healthy Start Vouchers

Early day motion 849, tabled 17 January 2022 by Emma Lewell (Labour). Signed by 26 members.

That this House notes that 218,002 families on low incomes in England are currently unable to access their entitlement to the Healthy Start scheme; also notes that, between November and December 2021, take-up of the scheme dropped by more than a fifth, from 65 per cent to 51 per cent, meaning that out of 449,748 potential beneficiaries, only 231,746 are enrolled on the scheme; further notes that no local authority in England has a take-up rate of higher than 62 per cent; and calls on the Government to enact Feeding Britain's proposal for an automatic registration scheme, similar to the one which sees pensioners on low incomes receive their Warm Home Discount automatically, to secure full take-up of the scheme and overcome barriers such as low awareness, bureaucracy, and stigma which prevent take-up being higher.

Signatures by party: Labour 14, Liberal Democrat 4, Conservative 2, Scottish National Party 2, DUP 1, Green 1, Independent 1, Labour/Co-operative 1.