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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken, and are planning to take, to discourage the use of packaging to promote multi-purchase discounts, and to encourage greater use of IT solutions as an alternative.

The Government has not taken any direct steps to encourage greater use of IT solutions as an alternative to packaging promotions.

Buy-one-get-one-free deals represent a small proportion of supermarket promotions, and increasingly retailers are moving to more ‘everyday low pricing’ models or temporary price reductions. The Government has worked through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to encourage retailers to provide alternative promotions for perishable food. If volume-based promotions are used (e.g. ‘3 for the price of 2’), then retailers should provide advice on how to store or freeze these foods to ensure that they are used and not wasted. This approach enables consumers to make savings but still buy the amounts or range of food that is right for them.