Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the annual budget was for food procured for prisons in each of the last three years; and what proportion of such food was sourced from British producers in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Expenditure on food for prisoners for the past three years was:

2012-13 - £59.6m

2013-14 - £55.1m

2014-15 - £54.1m

In the period September 2015 to March 2016, 49% of the total expenditure was spent with British producers.

As of March 2016, over 99% of UHT milk products used in prisons are being purchased from UK suppliers. From May 2017, the Ministry of Justice intends to make all contracts Bonfield Scorecard compliant, which includes focusing on the value of local production.