The Countryside Alliance has received a response from the Cabinet Office after writing to ministers to question why food and farming were omitted from a recent list of strategic sectors set to benefit from tighter procurement rules. The reply from the Parliamentary Secretary, Chris Ward MP, contains encouraging words and some welcome recognitions. The real test will be whether these are followed by meaningful action.
Most notably, the government has restated its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. That commitment first appeared in Labour’s manifesto and has since been repeated by ministers, but delivery will matter more than repetition. Public procurement has enormous potential to back British farmers, growers and food businesses, provided the right systems are in place to turn aspiration into contracts.
The minister also acknowledged the vital role of UK farming, catering and the wider food industry, and recognised that public sector food procurement should help British producers secure a fair share of the estimated £5 billion spent each year on food and catering contracts. That is welcome recognition of a point the Countryside Alliance has long made: government purchasing power should be used strategically to support domestic production, strengthen food security and sustain rural economies.
Particularly significant was the admission that existing data on the origin and sustainability of food bought by the public sector is limited, fragmented and incomplete. This echoes the findings of our report, Backing British? Benchmarking public food procurement, which found that only a small minority of public bodies were monitoring where their food came from.
The government says it is now assessing what food the public sector buys and where it comes from. That is a positive step, but transparency will be essential. If ministers are serious about improving standards and increasing British sourcing, they should commit to publishing the outcome of this work so that progress can be measured and public bodies held accountable.
The response also confirms that a consultation on a new Government Buying Standard for food and catering services will be launched later this year and invites the Countryside Alliance to share its expertise. We welcome that invitation and will seek to contribute constructively. Stronger standards, if properly designed and enforced, could help ensure British producers are better placed to compete for contracts.
There was also a small but notable softening on the question of strategic sectors. While food and farming were absent from the list announced in March, the minister stated that other sectors could be considered in future, and he made a similar point in the House of Commons earlier today (22 April) in response to a question from Ben Goldsborough MP (South Norfolk, Lab) about how NHS procurement, in particular, might better support British food and farming. Given that ministers frequently say “food security is national security,” we will continue to argue that food production deserves to be treated accordingly.
The tone of the response is constructive and several points are encouraging, but British farmers and consumers have heard warm words before. What matters now is delivery: better data, clearer standards and procurement decisions that genuinely back British food.