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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of UK suppliers to meet demand for domestic food consumption.

Our food security depends on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable export routes. Overall we produce 60% of all the food we need. That figure increases to 74% as a percentage of the food which UK conditions allow us to grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years. UK consumers have almost constant access through international trade to food products that we cannot produce here, or can only produce for some of the year; this also supplements our excellent domestic production. Importantly, this 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 has committed in the Agriculture Act 2020 to publishing a triennial report on subject of food security which will provide detailed analysis of relevant statistical data. The food security report will be a significant body of work that will cover both global and domestic food security, including global food availability, supply sources for food, supply chain resilience, food safety, and household food security. The first report will be published prior to the House rising for Christmas recess in 2021.