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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Cabinet Office’s 2026 National Capabilities Assessment, what steps her Department is taking to establish greater oversight of food supply chain resilience preparedness.

As set out in the UK Government Resilience Action Plan, the Cabinet Office provides scrutiny of response capabilities across the UK Government through National Capabilities Assessments which take place every two to three years. Defra considers these assessments and works work the Cabinet Office, other Government departments and industry to ensure the food supply chain is fully incorporated in emergency preparedness planning.