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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the (a) resilience of food and drink wholesalers during the covid-19 outbreak and (b) importance of their role in delivering food and drink to the (i) tourism, (ii) hospitality and (iii) other sectors.

The wholesale sector is hugely important within the food and drink supply chain. To ensure its ongoing viability in difficult circumstances, the UK Government has provided a range of support. Food and drink wholesalers are eligible for a number of schemes, including: the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help keep millions of people in employment and the Discretionary Grant Fund for small and micro businesses that are not eligible for other grant schemes.

The Secretary of State speaks to his counterparts in the Scottish Government, including through the Defra multilateral Inter Ministerial Group, on a regular basis when they discuss a range of issues.

Discussions also take place regularly at official level and these cover sharing of sectoral information and updates on Government activities.

Food supply is a devolved matter. It is therefore for the Scottish Government to decide what discussions they have with their sectors and what support to provide beyond that delivered at UK level in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.