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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to support the food and beverage sector in the West Midlands.

The Government works closely with the full spectrum of food and drink businesses across the country to promote growth, jobs, productivity and exports. As elsewhere, we engage with businesses in the West Midlands, both directly and through trade associations and other businesses groups, to support them in their efforts to: address economic challenges; understand and mitigate regulatory and compliance issues and; prepare successfully for EU exit. This includes recent collaboration with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) such as the Marches LEP, with which the Government has run a number of successful industry events.