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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of his Department collecting information on how many (a) abattoirs and (b) food processing plants in (i) England and (ii) the UK are family-owned businesses.

There are 232 approved Food Standards Agency (FSA) abattoirs across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and the FSA records which are sole traders, partnerships, and incorporated companies.

The majority of food processing plants are overseen by local authorities, and while their trading names are published by the FSA and Food Standards Scotland, this does not give an indication of the makeup of ownership.

Defra remains focused on supporting the farming, meat and food processing sectors, and the collection of this level of detail is not required or necessary to facilitate the delivery of any Official Controls.