Food poverty: Households, food banks and free school meals
This paper provides statistics on household food insecurity, food bank usage and free school meals in the UK, and tracks the impact of rising living costs.

What Police and Crime Commissioners do, how they work with police forces and how they are held to account.
Police and Crime Commissioners (987 KB , PDF)
Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are directly elected politicians, with responsibility for overseeing policing in their area. Their main responsibilities include:
PCCs also commission victims’ services and some crime prevention programmes in their police force area. They can also choose to take on additional responsibilities of overseeing the local fire and rescue service, and handling complaints made against the police. Relatively few PCCs have chosen to adopt these additional responsibilities.
PCCs have no power over operational matters, such as deciding what crimes to investigate and how. The chief officer of a police force retains operational independence for their force and is expected to make operational decisions free from political interference.
PCCs were introduced through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. The most recent PCC elections took place in May 2024. The results of this election are included in the Library briefing PCC Elections 2024.
There are 43 regional police forces in England and Wales, each with an elected politician responsible for PCC functions.
In 37 police force areas these functions are delivered by the elected PCC. However, in the remaining six police force areas, PCC functions are delivered by the following:
The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) provides an up-to-date list of elected politicians with PCC powers.
PCCs are held accountable in three ways:
Evidence suggests that many people do not know who their PCC is or what they do. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 42% of people over the age of 16 are not aware of PCCs.
Turnout for PCC elections is low. Turnout averaged 23.2% at the 2024 elections, representing the lowest turnout of any PCC election since the role was established.
Police and Crime Commissioners (987 KB , PDF)
This paper provides statistics on household food insecurity, food bank usage and free school meals in the UK, and tracks the impact of rising living costs.
On Wednesday 25 June 2025, there will be an Estimates Day debate on the spending of the Ministry of Justice. This debate pack contains details of the latest estimates and previous expenditure, background material, and suggestions for further reading.
An overview of the employment rights and support available to informal carers, and public policy reviews on this topic in recent years.