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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timetable is for ensuring that half of all food purchased across the public sector is (a) locally produced and (b) certified to higher environment standards.

The Government is open to considering all lawful means of achieving its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. As a first step, we will be reviewing the food currently purchased by the public sector and its provenance to help inform our future approach on public sector food procurement.