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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on the procurement of (a) food and (b) drinks produced in Britain for use in its canteens and restaurants.

The Government Property Agency (GPA) is responsible for the procurement of food and drink for canteens and restaurants in a number of government buildings across Britain, including Defra buildings.

Contractually, all suppliers appointed by GPA are required to comply with the Government Buying Standards, owned by Defra.

The relevant part of the standards is local and environmentally sustainable sourcing.

Wherever possible, food sourcing should prioritise locally produced food and food produced to higher environmental production standards. Contracting authorities and/or tier 1 suppliers should aim for at least 50% of food spend to be on locally produced food or food certified to higher environmental production standards. Progress towards this target must be reported annually.

This contractual provision will be monitored as part of the governance and report requirements of GPA's new contracts.