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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to deliver on their manifesto commitment to reform the Government Buying Standard for food and catering services to include a requirement for 50 per cent local and sustainable food; and what the proposed timeline and process for these reforms is.

This Government is open to considering all lawful means of achieving its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards.

A new national procurement policy statement has been published which sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that British producers are well-placed to meet.

Data collection on the extent to which public sector settings are serving food from local sustainable sources is currently underway. The department expect the work to be completed by Summer 2027.

Defra is considering the policy options available to deliver further on its ambitions for public sector food, including potentially updating the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services.