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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 2 November (HL2458), when they plan to extend procurement policy to other commodities associated with deforestation, such as soy and beef, in fulfilment of their commitment under the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests.

Through the Amsterdam Declaration “Towards Eliminating Deforestation from Agricultural Commodity Chains with European Countries”, of which the UK is a signatory, we are working towards collective action to take forward pledges to address deforestation.

We do not currently have any plans to extend our procurement policies to soy and beef.