Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 4
Sixth Report - Public Sector Procurement of Food
Published 21 Apr 2021
Paragraph 29
Addressed to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Public Sector Procurement of Food All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The GBSF are outdated; in some areas such as animal welfare the baseline standards are lower than the industry norm. In other areas, such as how to meet net zero emission targets, they lag behind current Government ambitions. The Government Public Sector Procurement of Food 25 should lead by example in setting high standards. The Government should review and update the GBSF to take account of new evidence, Government commitments, industry practice and consumer preferences on nutrition, animal welfare, sustainability and climate change. This should be addressed as part of the Government’s response to Part Two of the National Food Strategy by the end of the year. Thereafter, we suggest that the GBSF are actively reviewed every five years and updated if necessary.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Sixth Report - Public Sector Procurement of Food (HC 469), paragraph 29, 21 April 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 5 July 2021 (deadline 21 June 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and says the Committee's recommendations "align with our ambitions", with its main response being a consultation on updating the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF) this summer.
- On monitoring compliance, it says Ofsted and CQC inspectors "do not have the expertise" to assess the GBSF, and will "consider potential inspection bodies and remits" and seek views on alternative forms of monitoring in the consultation.
- On exemptions for overseas military and diplomatic supply, it says there is "no evidence that exemptions are being used" and that it "will consult on the removal of these exemptions".
- It agrees that the GBSF "requires updating" and has committed to a "substantial update", with the consultation looking at local produce, SME access and metrics on local, seasonal food.
- On the Future Food Framework pilot, it says the go-live date has been "delayed slightly" with a fully live capability indicated by the end of 2022, and it will provide a written update to the Committee by the end of December 2021.