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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to encourage public bodies to prioritise the purchase of British produce from (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.

In 2025, the Government published a new national procurement policy statement, which sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that British producers, including those in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Staffordshire more broadly, are well-placed to meet. Defra is considering the policy options available to deliver further on its ambitions for public sector food.