Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 8
Sixth Report - Public Sector Procurement of Food
Published 21 Apr 2021
Paragraph 55
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)
However, the south west pilot has been delayed because of the need to redeploy Government resources to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. While this delay is understandable, there is a risk that the pilot may fail before it has even started and that investment made to date may be wasted. Given the potential for the pilot to offer lessons on how to increase access to the public sector market for smaller, local suppliers, it should be prioritised and there must not be any further delays. The 26 Public Sector Procurement of Food Government should ensure that the delivery bodies involved are adequately resourced and supported to continue planning for the launch of the pilot in early 2022. We also request that the Government provides a written update by the end of December 2021 on the progress of the pilot, including a confirmation of the launch date.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Sixth Report - Public Sector Procurement of Food (HC 469), paragraph 55, 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.