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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of Government food procurement standards for supporting British produce.

The UK produces world leading quality food and drink, demonstrating excellence in animal welfare and sustainable production standards. The Government has a Manifesto commitment to encouraging the public sector to procure British food to support the environment, animal welfare and our farmers. To achieve this aim, we consulted last summer on options to update our public sector food procurement standards. This included a proposal to increase the amount of food procured to higher environmental production standards, such as LEAF and organic, and higher animal welfare within the public sector.

We are reviewing the responses received through the consultation and will be considering how best to update the current standards for public sector food and catering.