Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce mandatory food waste reporting requirements for large businesses operating across food supply chains.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is committed to reducing waste by transitioning towards a circular economy. This includes our ongoing work with WRAP to reduce their food waste and achieve associated efficiency savings. Through the No10-led Food Waste Endeavour, Defra is working with food businesses and technology providers to understand how UK companies are using AI technologies to drive reductions in food waste and deliver savings for businesses and to understand how government can best support these data driven solutions. This includes consideration of a mandatory data reporting requirement for larger businesses.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to renew or extend the £15 million surplus food redistribution fund supporting the diversion of surplus produce from farms to community food projects.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The farm surplus fund was a standalone one-year programme of funding that completed at the end of March 2026. Through the £13.5 million capital funding provided, the scheme supported recipients in building their capacity and capability for farm surplus redistribution sustainably, for example by funding essential equipment such as fridges and vans. The funding will continue to provide value for years to come through the continued use of the assets.

An independent evaluation is currently underway to assess the scheme’s impact and value for money. This will feed into any future decision making around such grant schemes.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have considered reviewing the eligibility criteria for the Holiday Activities and Food programme to ensure support reaches children in working households experiencing poverty.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme is specifically targeted at children and young people eligible for free school meals (FSM) from households with annual earnings of £7,400 or less, focusing on families facing the greatest levels of disadvantage. The department is spending more than £200 million a year to provide free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to eligible children during school holidays. This benefits their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn, with more than 500,000 children benefitting from HAF over the last year.

To ensure HAF reaches as many children who need it as possible, local authorities may also use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised places to children who do not meet the eligibility criteria but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF, such as those with special educational needs and disabilities or other additional needs.

HAF sits alongside wider support for low-income families, including the expansion of FSM, free breakfast clubs, and broader action through the child poverty strategy.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the alignment between taxpayer-funded subsidies relating to food production, the prevention of food waste, and the redistribution of surplus food for community use.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Good Food Cycle, published in July 2025, sets out this Government's vision for a healthier, more affordable, sustainable and resilient UK food system. Ensuring sustainable and resilient supply, reducing waste and improving access for all to healthy affordable food, are all identified as priority outcomes to achieve this vision. Phasing out area-based farming subsidies means Defra is investing more into environmental schemes that help secure the foundations of long-term food security. In May, the Prime Minister committed to a national programme to redistribute surplus food to support those in need. Defra will ensure any actions from this programme align with the Good Food Cycle’s core outcomes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when NHS England plan to update the version of the Core Information Standard on its website to reflect changes made by the Professional Record Standards Body which make the recording of sex mandatory in electronic patient records.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Professional Record Standards Body’s (PRSB) updates to the sex and gender data item representation for clinical use in the Core Information Standard have not yet been updated in the NHS England Standards Directory repository. Although these changes leave the PRSB specification and the NHS England Standards Directory out of step, it is proposed that the work to update the Standards Directory will commence this week.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 26 February (HCWS1369), when they expect the data linkage study research approvals to be granted.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In common with other publicly funded research, the Data Linkage Study is subject to the formal approval of the Health Research Authority (HRA) before the study can begin. For the Data Linkage Study, this requires the consideration of an ethics committee and the Confidentiality Advisory Group.

As the study application remains in active progress with the HRA, and it remains important for the approvals process to be undertaken independently, it is unfortunately not possible to provide an expected date for the HRA approval process to be concluded.

The Department continues to support NHS England in progressing the study.

Found: Williams – on behalf of Lord Young of Norwood Green • Caroline Ffiske – on behalf of Baroness Jenkin of Kennington