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

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of food procured by state-owned establishments that is locally sourced; and what plans they have to encourage this.

We do not have an estimate for the proportion of public sector food which is locally sourced. However, as announced at the Oxford Farming Conference, the government wants to back British produce where possible. Over the next year, the government will review food currently bought in the public sector and where it is bought from. This work will start right away and be a significant first step in understanding how to capitalise on the Government’s purchasing power: informing any changes to public sector food procurement policies in due course.