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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to simplify the process for British food producers, especially small and medium-sized farms, to access public sector supply chains.

The Government is committed to opening up public sector supply chains to a wider range of companies, particularly small and medium-sized (SME) businesses, including farmers and growers. The Government published a national procurement policy statement (NPPS) in February 2025. The NPPS sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to higher environmental standards that high-quality British producers are well-placed to meet. Given the limited information on the origin and sustainability of food in the public sector supply chain, Defra has begun collecting new data to understand how far public sector settings are serving food from local and sustainable sources and what further action is needed.