Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government
Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
T 030 3444 0000
www.gov.uk/mhclg
Garry Richardson
Date:
7 September 2020
Dear Mr Richardson
Freedom of Information Act 2000 -
8686933
Thank you for your request for information which we received on 10 August
2020 and processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
You requested: "
Can you please confirm the following:
i) How many food boxes have been issued in England.
ii) How many food boxes have been issued in the North West of England.
ii) How many food boxes have been issued in Lancashire.
iii) How many food boxes have been issued in Blackpool.
iv) How many food boxes have been issued in the Blackpool North and Cleveleys
constituency.
v) How many food boxes have been issued in the Blackpool South constituency.
The above requested information is for the period 23 March 2020 till 31 July 2020.
I look forward to hearing from you.".
I can confirm that some of the information requested is held by the Ministry of
Housing, Communities and Local Government and we are able to provide you with
the information we hold. I have detailed below the information that is being released
to you.
Through the National Shielding Service between 27 March and 31 July 2020, the
government has provided 4,724,611 food packages in England. The food packages
were standardised and contained basic food and household essentials.
The food packages were supplied and delivered by wholesalers Brakes and Bidfood,
through a contract managed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (DEFRA). Local Authorities have also separately provided food packages to
meet dietary, cultural or religious needs where needed.
The figure above is the total number of food packages delivered in England through
the National Shielding Service. It does not include food packages provided by Local
Authorities during that period.
TEMPLATE FRAMEWORK – NOT TO BE USED FOR SUBMISSION
OF DRAFT ANSWERS
MHCLG does not hold the geographical breakdown of the total number of food
packages provided in England that you have requested. Information within scope of
this part of your request may be held by DEFRA, Cabinet Office or local authorities.
DEFRA’s FOI tea
m can be contacted at: xxxxx.xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx
Cabinet Office’s FOI team can be contacted at:
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Complaints procedure
If you are unhappy with this response, we will review it and report back to you. (This
is called an internal review.) If you want us to do this, let us know by return email
within two months of receiving this response. You can also ask by letter addressed
to:
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Knowledge and Information Access Team
4th Floor SE, Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London, SW1P 4DF
If you are unhappy with the outcome of this internal review, you can ask the
independent Information Commissioner to investigate. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at email addre
ss xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx or use their
onli
ne form at ico.org.uk/concerns or call them on 0303 123 1113.
Yours faithfully,
MHCLG FOI Team