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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will consider estalishing a national food policy.

While the immediate priority for the department is planning for No Deal, the Government is committed to publishing a National Food Strategy once we leave the EU.

This work is being led by Henry Dimbleby, Defra’s lead Non-Executive Director. He is still in the early scoping stage but we expect it to cover the entire food system, from farm to fork.

As the Secretary of State outlined in his letter to Neil Parish on 30 October (https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/environment-food-rural-affairs/correspondence/181030-Secretary-of-State-toChair-Food-strategy.pdf), it will build on the work already underway in the Agriculture Bill, the Environment Bill and the Fisheries Bill, ensuring that our food system delivers healthy and affordable food for all people and is built upon a resilient and sustainable agriculture sector.

I expect the role of farming with respect to food security, providing healthy diets, the use of new technology and protecting the environment will be covered.