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Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Third Special Report: Public Sector Procurement of Food: Government Response to the Committee’s Sixth Report of Session 2019–21

Published 5 July 2021

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Public Sector Procurement of Food Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to Sixth Report - Public Sector Procurement of Food.

This is the government's response, published 5 July 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.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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