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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has commissioned research into the potential impact of mandatory food waste reporting on (a) access to healthy foods, (b) sustainability targets, (c) expenditure by businesses and (d) access to healthier food distribution organisations.

The consultation stage Impact Assessment considered the potential impacts of mandatory food waste reporting on large food businesses. Furthermore, when businesses reduce their food waste, we expect to see progress towards sustainability targets and increases in surplus food redistribution, but these has not been quantified, and these benefits are indirect because they are not realised from measurement and reporting alone, they require action to be taken. No assessment has been made of the potential of reporting to increase access to healthy foods.