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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ensure local authorities reduce food waste within their communities.

In December last year, the Government launched its Resources and Waste Strategy which sets out a new approach to address food waste from farm to fork.

The Strategy calls on local authorities to tackle food waste within their communities by actively supporting the development and use of the Waste and Resources Action Programme’s national messaging to promote food waste prevention among citizens, and by playing an active part in piloting interventions and in scaling up those pilots which prove most successful.

Last autumn, the Secretary of State announced a new pilot scheme to reduce food waste, supported by a £15 million fund. The first £5 million round of funding is currently being allocated to food redistribution organisations. The Government has also appointed Ben Elliot as the food waste champion who will work with business leaders to ensure that the issue of food waste and surplus remains at the top of their agendas, with household food waste as a priority.