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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's Outcome Delivery Plan published on 15 July 2021, what recent steps he has taken to deliver affordable food to consumers in the UK.

Defra’s Outcome Delivery Plan commits us to improve the productivity and economic performance of food and farming industries, ensuring the UK is a great place to start, innovate and thrive as a farming, food or drink business, delivering healthy, affordable and sustainable food and drink to consumers at home and abroad. The forthcoming Government Food Strategy will build on existing work across Government and set out the vision to create a healthier, more sustainable, more resilient, and more accessible food system for people across the UK.

We will continue to engage with supermarkets to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food, for example by price matching and price freezing measures.