Food: Prices

(asked on 15th October 2021) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Food and Drink Federation's report entitled Eating into household budgets: the Government’s recipe for food price inflation, published on 20 July 2021, what assessment his Department has made of the analysis in that report on the cost of government regulation for families and the cost of food over the next three years.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 2nd November 2021

No analysis has been made of the Food and Drink Federation’s report. All Government regulations are subject to an impact assessment that compares the costs and benefits of the change proposed. This allows the Government to take a balanced view on the benefit of implementing that regulation for the overall good of society.

The Government is wholly committed to supporting people on lower incomes and consistently supporting the lowest-paid families including through increasing the living wage and by spending over £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22.

Regulation does not necessarily translate into price rises for consumers including families. Defra modelling shows that consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour & manufacturing costs and Sterling exchange rates. Defra monitors food prices on a monthly and annual basis using the ONS Consumer Price Index with Housing costs.

Later this year the Government will publish the UK Food Security Report which will bring together reported and publicly available data on food security, including at a household level. As part of the forthcoming Government Food Strategy, Defra is working closely with other relevant departments across Whitehall to set out a plan to ensure the food system is sustainable and affordable, supporting people and families to live healthy lives, while protecting animal health and welfare.

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