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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to control inflation on food prices.

My Department understands the pressure that rising food prices place on household budgets and the impacts on businesses across the food chain. Recent cost pressures in supply chains have led to food price inflation and we continue to monitor food prices using inflation statistics published by the Office for National Statistics.

Food prices are set individually by businesses and are influenced by the competitive market they work in and the cost pressures they face. It is not for HM Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies.

However, my Department continues to regularly engage with food retailers to explore ways in which they can support households by ensuring that affordable food remains available by, for example, maintaining value ranges, price matching, price freezing measures and the use of loyalty card offers.