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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of research by Kantar, published on 11 October 2022, on potential rises in the average annual grocery bill.

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 continued food price inflation and we continue to monitor food prices using inflation statistics published by the Office for National Statistics.

We recognise that most household grocery bills will have increased given the food price inflation reported since mid-2021. Defra analysis shows that the exact impact will vary depending on the characteristics of the individual household, such as the age of the occupants. The impact will also be determined by the products the individual household purchases and the measures taken to protect against increased costs - for instance, switching to own-brand or value products.

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.