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1701162

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK's food security.
	tabling member constituency	Newport West
	tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
	uin	21840
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption.</p><p> </p><p>Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.</p><p> </p><p>UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.</p><p> </p><p>Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was produced in 2021 and the next will be published by December 2024. This report serves as an evidence base for policy work.</p><p> </p><p>At the NFU Conference on 20 February 2024, the Prime Minister announced that we will introduce an annual Food Security Index to underpin the three-yearly UK Food Security report. This will present the key data and analysis needed to monitor how we are maintaining our current levels of self-sufficiency and overall food security.</p><p> </p><p>We will publish the first draft of the Food Security Index during the second UK Farm to Fork Summit this Spring.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 22/04/2024 15:16:12 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1695494

	registered interest
	date	12/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how he plans to take information about expected future climatic conditions affecting (a) UK food production and (b) food imports into account in constructing the new Food Security Index.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
	tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
	uin	18232
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2024 answer text <p>We are in the process of developing the content of the new Food Security Index (FSI). We expect it will include a selection of indicators giving an assessment of food security across the five themes identified in the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR), including domestic food supply and imports.</p><p> </p><p>We expect the annual FSI will focus on a selection of indicators that typically show variation on an annual basis. The updated UKFSR, which will be published later this year, will include analysis of longer-term trends, such as the impact of changing climatic conditions on food security.</p><p> </p><p>Defra officials are considering what would be most useful to monitor on an annual basis. It will likely draw on key statistics in the UK Food Security Report.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 18/03/2024 15:09:48 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle

1694671

	registered interest
	date	07/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the Food Security Index will be measured; and whether it will include nature-friendly farming practices.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	17700
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/03/2024 answer text <p>The first draft of the new annual Food Security Index will be published at the Farm to Fork Summit this spring. We are in the process of developing the content of the index. We expect it will include a selection of indicators giving an assessment of food security across the five themes identified in the UK Food Security Report, including domestic food supply. Productive, resilient and environmentally sustainable domestic food production is a key element of our food security.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 12/03/2024 14:39:17 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1688540

	registered interest
	date	08/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve food security.
	tabling member constituency	Penrith and The Border
	tabling member printed	Dr Neil Hudson
	uin	13818
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption.</p><p> </p><p>Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.</p><p> </p><p>UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.</p><p> </p><p>Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. The next Food Security Report will be published by the end of 2024.</p><p> </p><p>The Farm to Fork Summit also took place on 16 May 2023. Discussions focused on bringing great British food to the world; building resilience and transparency; strengthening sustainability and productivity across the supply chain; and growing an innovative, skilled food and farming sector. Engagement with the entire supply chain continues as we deliver the commitments from the summit.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 19/02/2024 10:37:31 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4853 label Biography information for Dr Neil Hudson

1687797

	registered interest
	date	06/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure an adequate supply of labour in the food supply chain.
	tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
	tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
	uin	13234
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>Defra is aware of the impact that labour shortages are having on the food supply chain and we continue to speak regularly with the sector and other government departments to understand labour supply and demand, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements.</p><p> </p><p>To inform future decisions on labour across the sector, Defra commissioned John Shropshire to carry out an Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain throughout 2022 and 2023, considering how automation, domestic labour and migrant labour could contribute to tackling labour shortages in our sectors. This report was published on 30 June 2023 and the government response – which will also be informed by the Review of Automation in Horticulture – is expected to be published in early 2024.</p><p> </p><p>At the same time as the response, the government will set out how it will support the sector to access the labour it needs alongside actions to reduce the sector’s reliance on migrant labour including via our work on automation and promoting domestic labour procurement and training.</p><p> </p><p>Alongside this, the Government announced last May that there would be 45,000 Seasonal Worker visas for the horticulture sector in 2024, with a further 2000 for seasonal poultry workers, ensuring these sectors can plan their workforce needs for the year ahead with confidence.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 19/02/2024 08:17:08 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1654281

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce a (a) food security index, (b) food security target and (c) statutory duty to monitor and report on domestic food production levels annually.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	195025
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2023 answer text <p>Food security is a complex and multifaceted issue. There is no single indicator or index that captures the breadth of food security issues effectively. In the Government food strategy, we committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce domestically. We already monitor and report on domestic food production levels annually in our Agriculture in the United Kingdom publication. This is produced to meet a reporting commitment in the Agriculture Act 1993. In addition, the Agriculture Act 2020 commits the Government to produce analysis of statistical data relating to food security at least once every three years.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 04/09/2023 16:04:35 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1647517

	registered interest
	date	23/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve food security.
	tabling member constituency	Slough
	tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
	uin	190960
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2023 answer text <p>The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption.</p><p> </p><p>Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 61% of all the food we need, and 74% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.</p><p>UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.</p><p>The Farm to Fork Summit took place on 16 May 2023. Discussions focused on bringing great British food to the world; building resilience and transparency; strengthening sustainability and productivity across the supply chain; and growing an innovative, skilled food and farming sector. Engagement with the entire supply chain will continue as we deliver the commitments from the summit, to support our continued high levels of food security.</p><p> </p><p>Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. The next Food Security Report will be published by the end of 2024.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 28/06/2023 13:29:41 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1644733

	registered interest
	date	14/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve food security in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	South Holland and The Deepings
	tabling member printed	Sir John Hayes
	uin	189503
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2023 answer text <p>The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption.</p><p> </p><p>Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 61% of all the food we need, and 74% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.</p><p> </p><p>UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.</p><p> </p><p>Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. The next Food Security Report will be published by the end of 2024.</p><p> </p><p>The Farm to Fork Summit also took place on 16 May 2023. Discussions focused on bringing great British food to the world; building resilience and transparency; strengthening sustainability and productivity across the supply chain; and growing an innovative, skilled food and farming sector. Engagement with the entire supply chain will continue as we deliver the commitments from the summit.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 19/06/2023 15:16:38 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	350 label Biography information for Sir John Hayes

1627055

	registered interest
	date	11/05/2023
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will publish information on the campaign to improve global food security and nutrition as part of the Integrated Review Refresh.
	tabling member constituency	Liverpool, West Derby
	tabling member printed	Ian Byrne
	uin	184767
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2023 answer text <p>Minister Mitchell set out further details of the global food security and nutrition campaign in his recent speech on international development at Chatham House. This included announcing an event towards the end of the year to bring together British and international expertise in tackling hunger and starvation with the support of the academic, medical, research, philanthropic, and NGO and charity community. We will publish further information on actions that have been taken to deliver the campaign throughout the year, for example funding announcements and details of Ministerial visits and engagements (such as this publication on .gov.uk on the UK-hosted Agriculture Breakthrough: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/agriculture-breakthrough-ministerial-meeting-minister-trevelyans-speech-in-washington-dc). The Department engages regularly with a range of stakeholders to consult and inform them on the progress of the campaign.</p> answering member constituency Berwick-upon-Tweed answering member printed Anne-Marie Trevelyan question first answered 17/05/2023 07:31:13 answering member 4531 label Biography information for Anne-Marie Trevelyan
	tabling member	4831 label Biography information for Ian Byrne

1623983

	registered interest
	date	26/04/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has held recent discussions with trade union representatives on food security.
	tabling member constituency	Gateshead
	tabling member printed	Ian Mearns
	uin	182835
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2023 answer text <p>We have recently not held discussions with trade union representatives on food security but do engage regularly with trade bodies such as the National Farmers Union and Food and Drink Federation on food security and other issues.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to work closely with external partners across the food supply industry to understand, assess and monitor the food and drink supply. Defra works closely with the major food retailers to understand consumer behaviour and if/how this is impacted by pressures on the supply chain.</p><p> </p><p>The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. Defra has a collaborative relationship with industry which allows us to effectively respond to disruption, should it occur.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 02/05/2023 16:15:55 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4000 label Biography information for Ian Mearns