Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of online food outlets that do not display their food hygiene ratings.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

For businesses offering online ordering of food, legislation requiring provision of the rating at the point of choice is expected to be introduced in Northern Ireland once the Assembly is back in operation and Wales are exploring the introduction of a similar legislative requirement.

The case for extending mandatory display to England is being finalised by the FSA for ministerial consideration and ultimately cross-Government approval. As increasing numbers of food businesses provide online ordering services for consumers, for England, provision of food hygiene ratings online will be considered in the case being finalised for ministers.

To date the FSA has not undertaken any research to assess the proportion of online food businesses that display ratings, but work is underway to develop methodology to monitor this.