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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on increasing the take up of voluntary food waste reporting by large businesses.

The Secretary of State decided in November 2023 to look again at how best to secure the benefits of food waste reporting for large businesses. We are currently gathering further evidence, including ways to enhance voluntary reporting, and will re-consider all options in the 2022 consultation using the latest available data. We expect to make the decision later this year.

The consultation’s Impact Assessment includes an assessment of the effectiveness of the voluntary and mandatory approaches to reporting.