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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to incorporate the needs of small-scale meat (a) producers and (b) processors into his Department's (i) food strategy and (ii) future rural support programmes.

Developing a food strategy is not a job for the Government alone. We are forming a coalition with the food sector, academics and charities, citizens, and key thinkers to pool our collective ideas, influence, and effort. As part of our engagement, we are holding sectoral and thematic conversations through May and June, utilising existing Defra forums. This includes the Livestock Chain Advisory Group, in which small-scale meat producers and processors are represented by sector bodies and associations.

This is just the start of the conversation, and all stakeholders across the food supply chain will be engaged.

Defra plans to simplify and rationalise grant funding, ensuring that grants deliver the most benefit for food security and nature. We are currently working to agree our capital settlement as part of the Spending Review. Once agreed, we will consider how best to use capital to achieve outcomes and will confirm any future grant rounds in due course.