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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help increase food security in the context of trends in the level of flooding brought about by climate change.

The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption.

Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year.

These figures have changed little over the last 20 years, and the Government is committed to maintaining the amount of food produced domestically to support our farmers and uphold our high food security.

Recent wet weather has created challenging conditions for farmers; however, the food industry is adept at managing disruption and securing alternative sources of supply when necessary.

UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

The government is in regular contact with the food industry to ensure it is well prepared for a range of scenarios, and we continue to take all the necessary steps to ensure people across the country have the food and supplies they need.