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 work with supermarkets to help reduce food waste.

The Government is investing over £2 million this year to combat food waste. That includes funding the Waste and Resources Action Plan (WRAP) and through them we work to address food waste in households and supply chains.

We support the Courtauld 2030 Commitment, managed by WRAP. Courtauld 2030 is a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste, which includes a target of a 50% per capita reduction in food waste by 2030 against a 2007 baseline. Action through Courtauld includes working with businesses, including all the major retailers, to measure and reduce food waste through the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap and the key tool to Target Measure and Act on waste. Courtauld signatories also play a key role in providing consumers with support in reducing food waste at home for instance through offering storage advice and appropriate labelling. Recent data from WRAP showed food waste for the retail sector was 26% lower in 2021 than in 2007.