Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June to Question 186759 on House of Commons: Fairtrade Initiative, if the Commission will make it its policy to record details of all the Fairtrade branded products purchased by Catering Services.
Answered by Charles Walker
Procurement standards for catering contracts include minimum ethical criteria and the Administration does not plan to keep a record of the scheme relating to each product due to the volume and range of goods purchased.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will publish a list of all items purchased by the House authorities for use on the parliamentary estate that carry the Fairtrade accreditation.
Answered by Charles Walker
Catering Services at the House of Commons does not currently record details of all the Fairtrade branded products it purchases. Fairtrade is only one of a number of ethical trading schemes that exist within the food and beverage sectors. Catering Services procurement set minimum ethical criteria pertinent to the category and strong environmental and social commitments with all suppliers demonstrating that they operate to those standards via recognised third-party accreditation.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will make it its policy to ensure that all tea and coffee served on the parliamentary estate has Fairtrade accreditation.
Answered by Charles Walker
All fresh coffee served is Fairtrade certified.
100% of our tea is certified under the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) scheme. For black tea and by value, 85% of the tea we purchase carries Fairtrade accreditation. The remainder is either Rainforest Alliance or UTZ certified.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has met with representatives of the the Fairtrade Foundation to discuss farming support for people in poverty in developing countries in the last 12 months.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development has not yet met with representatives of the Fairtrade Foundation. The FCDO works with organisations like Fairtrade Foundation through its agriculture portfolio, which contains programmes that are designed to support farmers in the most vulnerable countries. For example, with UK International Climate Finance (ICF), we are supporting the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness programme (CASA), the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), and other agriculture interventions. Officials have consulted Fairtrade Foundation and other sector stakeholders and welcome the opportunity to continue to do so as our work evolves.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ensure that all fruit provided to children in state schools through the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme has Fairtrade accreditation.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Suppliers of fruit and vegetables to the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme are required to adhere to all elements of United Kingdom law. They are required to supply produce which meets Government fresh fruit and vegetable marketing standards, and the standards set for the Red Tractor food assurance scheme for UK sourced foods, or Globalgap, the international equivalent for fruit and vegetables sourced from outside the UK.
An assessment of relevant accreditation programmes such as Fairtrade is undertaken as part of the procurement process to source the fruit, vegetables and related services for the Scheme. The current supply frameworks will run until the end of July 2024, and the merits of using a range of potential accreditations, including Fairtrade, will be considered as part of the next procurement.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what food standards are applied to fruit and vegetables sourced for children through the School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme; and whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring that food supplied through the scheme meets fair-trade standards.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Suppliers of fruit and vegetables to the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme are required to adhere to all elements of United Kingdom law. They are required to supply produce which meets Government fresh fruit and vegetable marketing standards and the standards set for the Red Tractor food assurance scheme for UK sourced foods, or Globalgap, the international equivalent for fruit and vegetables sourced from outside the UK.
An assessment of relevant accreditation programmes such as Fairtrade is undertaken as part of the procurement process to source the fruit, vegetables and related services for the Scheme. The current supply frameworks will run until the end of July 2024, and the merits of using a range of potential accreditations, including Fairtrade, will be considered as part of the next procurement.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Fairtrade farmers and workers are considered in the Government’s trade policy.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Department for International Trade (DIT) works closely with a wide range of stakeholders, including trade unions, trade for development NGOs and the Fairtrade Foundation – whose CEO sits on DIT’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group – to understand fully the interests of Fairtrade farmers and workers, and seeks to negotiate outcomes that support fair treatment of workers around the world.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the finding on page 200 of Tony's Chocolonely's annual report for 2021-22, that 1,701 cases of child labour were found among cooperatives in the brand's supply chain, what steps her Department is taking to assist the Governments of (a) Ghana and (b) Côte d'Ivoire in supporting families in those countries to prevent child labour.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Whilst the cocoa industry is important for the Ghanaian and Ivorian economies and supports the livelihood of millions of farming households, reports of children engaged in hazardous child labour remain very concerning. The UK welcomes both countries' continued commitments to this. These include Ghana's provision of information on the number of child trafficking cases investigated, prosecuted and convicted, and Côte d'Ivoire's First Lady's efforts to address child labour. The UK is a key supporter of the Cocoa Forest Initiative, a joint partnership with Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, as well as 35 cocoa and chocolate companies, which aims to achieve a more sustainable cocoa sector.
HMG remains committed to improving traceability in the cocoa sector, so that British consumers can make more informed choices. We are partnering with Mondelez International and Fairtrade through the Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility increase the resilience of cocoa farmers and their families to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and to accelerate income diversification. HMG has also pledged support ahead of the Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in May, in order to galvanise action towards Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to help small Fairtrade producers tackle climate change without making their produce unaffordable ahead of COP26.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are committed to addressing the challenges of climate change, whilst ensuring that developing countries benefit from of a global transition to low emission, sustainable land use and food systems. Ahead of COP26, the UK will be convening a global dialogue on trade in forest and agricultural commodities, to support producer countries in achieving their economic goals, while transitioning to more sustainable land use.
Through the Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility, the UK is working in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation and Mondelēz International in Ghana to ensure cocoa farmers and their families are resilient to the pandemic, and to accelerate income diversification through climate-smart farming.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that fair trade goods continue to have access to UK markets under new trading arrangements.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and Generalised Scheme of Preferences support developing countries to export agricultural products and other goods to the UK. We have secured EPAs with 30 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries, covering £18bn of trade. We plan to deepen our EPA agreements and expand them to new countries in the future.
Independent certification schemes, such as Fairtrade, which set standards on social, economic and environmental issues for companies, continue to operate within the context of UK trading arrangements.