Cost of Living: Food Waste

Debate between Baroness D'Souza and Lord Harlech

Thursday 21st September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harlech (Con)]

My Lords, I quite agree with my noble friend. This is all part of rethinking how we buy and use food. It is incumbent on all of us to buy what we need and use what we buy. This will help us drive down food waste and reduce cost for businesses and individual households.

[Baroness D’Souza (CB)]

My Lords, I wonder whether the House will permit me to bring up an ancient gripe to do with the redistribution of surplus food from Parliament itself. I have been going at this for many years, talking to the catering department. There have been many objections, one of which is whether it would have to bear legal responsibility should some of the food be in any way imperfect. I found a wonderful organisation, whose name temporarily escapes me but begins with F, which is prepared to collect food at a convenient point, take legal responsibility and redistribute it, but I have had nothing back from the catering department. I wonder whether the Minister would be kind enough to take this back to the department and get back to me on why it is not possible to redistribute perfectly good food from this House and the other Chamber?

[Lord Harlech (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely right, in that redistribution is a vital part of reducing food waste. Since 2015, overall levels of redistribution have increased threefold—worth in excess of £1.3 billion and more than 1 billion meals. I will take this back to the department to discuss what we can do with the catering service.