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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) increased instances of extreme weather events across Europe and North Africa, (2) the impact of such events on the importing of fresh produce into the UK, and (3) the need to increase domestic food security.

We remain in close contact with suppliers, who are clear that current issues relating to the availability of certain fruits and vegetables are predominately caused by poor weather in Spain and North Africa where they are produced. These issues have been caused by unseasonal weather hampering production and harvest during December and January.

While short term supplies might be tight, overall, the supply chain is robust, and we are keeping the market under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group.

The capability, levers, and expertise to respond to disruption lie with industry. Government's role is to support and enable an industry-led response.

The Government has taken steps to address these global pressures on farmers through to support for energy costs, cutting tariffs to reduce feed costs, improving avian influenza compensation schemes and taking a range of measures on fertilisers.

We work with industry bodies across the farming and horticulture sectors to monitor and assess the current market situation.

Minister Spencer held an industry roundtable with supermarkets on Monday 27 February to explore their plans for a return to normal supplies and contingencies for dealing with these supply chain problems.