Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 8
Seventh Report - Food security
Published 28 Jul 2023
Paragraph 29
Addressed to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Food Security All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government Food Strategy (GFS) made only one commitment to food security: to maintain “broadly the same level in future” the UK’s current rate of self- sufficiency of 75% of commodities we can produce. Food security, though, is more than just self-sufficiency: the UK is reliant on food imports, mostly from the EU. The Government should, in conjunction with the food supply chain and others such as academics, develop a suite of food security indicators covering both inputs and outputs and set targets for them, which should in turn influence food security policy. The Government should outline its approach to this in its Response, and should launch the suite of indicators within 12 months of this Report’s publication.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Seventh Report - Food security (HC 622), paragraph 29, 28 July 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 17 November 2023 (deadline 28 September 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it "takes all aspects of food security very seriously" but, across the report's recommendations, mostly points to existing measures and gives few new commitments, with some proposals declined or not planned.
- On an annual UK Food Security Report, it says "We do not have plans to make the UKFSR an annual publication" and that the next report will be published by December 2024.
- On the Cabinet Office review of food policy structures, it "agrees with the need for policy coherence and for strong leadership", but points to existing cross-Whitehall structures rather than committing to a review.
- On free school meals, it says it does "not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions" but "will continue to keep eligibility under review"; on a sugar and salt tax, it does not consider "now is the right time".
- On the Shropshire labour review, it is "currently considering the recommendations and intend[s] to publish a response before the end of the year".