Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what food standards are applied to fruit and vegetables sourced for children through the School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme; and whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring that food supplied through the scheme meets fair-trade standards.

Suppliers of fruit and vegetables to the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme are required to adhere to all elements of United Kingdom law. They are required to supply produce which meets Government fresh fruit and vegetable marketing standards and the standards set for the Red Tractor food assurance scheme for UK sourced foods, or Globalgap, the international equivalent for fruit and vegetables sourced from outside the UK.

An assessment of relevant accreditation programmes such as Fairtrade is undertaken as part of the procurement process to source the fruit, vegetables and related services for the Scheme. The current supply frameworks will run until the end of July 2024, and the merits of using a range of potential accreditations, including Fairtrade, will be considered as part of the next procurement.