Baroness Grender
Main Page: Baroness Grender (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Lord Katz (Lab)
The noble Lord of course has a great deal of experience in this. On his first question around the frequency of the report, he will know that it is a huge undertaking. It takes over a year to produce and usually weighs in at well over 300 pages, covering five themes, from global availability to household access to food security. The annual digest is shorter and more focused, which, as he commented, focuses on more material factors and recent changes in food supply.
When it comes to wider government support for farmers and the agricultural sector, the Government have allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over the Parliament, and the food sector is one of the UK’s 13 critical national infrastructure sectors. That tells the whole House how seriously we take it.
Baroness Grender (LD)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the real test of this policy and the new farming road map is whether it leaves the poorest households better protected against disruption to food supply and prices? Given that the poorest fifth of households would need to spend 70% of their disposable income for the Government’s version of a healthy diet, what assessment have the Government made of the urgent need right now for the affordability of healthy food?
Lord Katz (Lab)
The noble Baroness will be aware that UK annual food price inflation in the current month, June 2026, was 2.2%, which is lower than overall inflation for the first time since January last year. Historically, of course, our food has been more affordable than the EU average. But she is right to stress the importance of affordability; that is why the Government are providing targeted support to help households manage food costs in a number of different ways. First, we have extended free school meals to 500,000 extra pupils, which will save up to £500 per child per year. The Chancellor of the Exchequer also recently announced targeted tariff cuts on over 100 everyday food items as part of the Great British Summer Savings scheme, which, it is estimated, will save more than £150 million per year.