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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Departments planned timeline is to ensure that at least 50% of all food purchased by the public sector is (a) locally produced and (b) sustainable; and what progress he has made on this.

At last month’s Oxford Farming Conference, as part of the government’s New Deal for Farmers, the Government announced a series of reforms, including, where possible, backing British produce. It was also announced that for the first time ever, the government will review food currently bought in the public sector and where it is bought from. This work will start right away and be a significant first step in understanding how to capitalize on the Government’s purchasing power: informing any changes to public sector food procurement policies in due course.