The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs () (Con)
My Lords, I will now repeat in the form of a Statement an Answer
to an Urgent Question in the other place:
“We recognise that food prices have gone up. The recent increase
in food price inflation was driven by upward price movements in
eight of the 11 food categories. The three most significant price
increases since February 2022 are oils and fats, at 32.1%; milk,
cheese and eggs, at 30.8%; and non-classified food products, at
28.9%. While recent unseasonable weather in Morocco has also
created some temporary supply disruption to fruit and vegetables,
domestic retailers have held prices comparatively low compared
with the rest of Europe, where increased demand led in some cases
to 300% rises in the price of some vegetables.
A number of media outlets have reported that the recent shortage
of some salad and vegetables has been the driver of the increase
in food inflation in February, but that is not the case. The
overall inflation rate increases have been caused by several
factors. There are other categories where price increases have
been greater than that of vegetables over the past year.
These high overall inflation rates are driven by high utility
prices and pressures on global supply chains that are being felt
across Europe and beyond. Commentators expect the rate of
inflation both across the economy and for food and drink to be
near its peak. The Government have put in place a number of
measures to support households with prices, including committing
£37 billion to support households with the cost of living; £1
billion of that has already gone towards help with the cost of
household essentials.
Looking forward to April, the Government will be uprating benefit
rates and state pensions by 10.1%. The benefit cap levels will
also be increasing by the same amount in order to increase the
number of households that can benefit from those uprating
decisions. In addition, for 2023-24, households on eligible
means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in cost of living
payments. That will be split into three payments of around £300
each across the 2023-24 financial year. A separate £300 payment
will be made to pensioner households on top of their winter fuel
payments, and individuals in receipt of eligible disability
benefits will receive a £150 payment.
Free school meal eligibility is being permanently extended to
children from all families with no recourse to public funds. The
Government have extended free school meals to more groups of
children than any other Government over the past half a century.
We remain committed to ensuring that the most disadvantaged
children continue to be supported.
We are also working closely with retailers to explore the range
of measures they can take to ensure the availability of
affordable food, so while we recognise that this is a challenging
time for consumers, we are taking a large number of steps to
support people with the cost of living and I have great faith in
the food supply chain, which has proven itself to be extremely
resilient over the past few years.”
1.56pm
of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for reading out the
response from Farming Minister , even if it does not fully
reflect the struggles being faced by households across the
country. Earlier this afternoon, the Bank of England raised
interest rates for an 11th consecutive time, which of course will
increase mortgage, credit and other costs at a time when many
people are already scaling back on their food shops.
We understand that the Secretary of State cannot always be
available to take a UQ, but her absence this morning was
concerning. She is the department’s representative at the Cabinet
table, and I think many people across the country would expect
her to take an active interest in issues around food costs and
security. Can the Minister therefore outline her involvement in
this issue? What meetings has she had recently with producers and
retailers, or have those meetings also been delegated to
others?
(Con)
I can assure the noble Baroness that the Secretary of State is
deeply involved in this issue. The Food Minister, , took this Urgent Question,
which is right, as he is the Minister responsible for food
supply, food security and other related issues. The noble
Baroness is absolutely right that this matter affects a number of
different departments right across government, and the Prime
Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have also been
deeply involved in this. I do not know precisely what meetings
the Secretary of State has had on this issue, but I will be happy
to write to the noble Baroness with details of discussions she
has had. I can certainly say from my own experience that the
Secretary of State is very involved in this issue.
of Hardington Mandeville
(LD)
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for repeating the Statement.
Some £37 billion has gone to support households with the cost of
living but there is no detail as to eligibility. Can the Minister
say how this money is being distributed? I welcome the
Government’s intention to permanently extend free school meals
eligibility to children from all families with no recourse to
public funds. Can the Minister say whether this means that free
school meals will be available to all those who are eligible
during the school holidays? As the Statement says, the price of
milk, cheese and eggs has risen by 30.8%. Can the Minister say
whether any of the £37 billion support is reaching the farmers
who produce our milk, cheese and eggs?
(Con)
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. On free school
meals, the Government fully support the provision of nutritious
food in schools to enable pupils to be well nourished, develop
healthy eating habits and concentrate and learn in school. There
is so much evidence from a number of different bodies about the
importance of the right nutrition to assist with learning and
ensure that the school day is as beneficial as possible. We have
full confidence that schools and catering suppliers will continue
to deliver a quality service. As the noble Baroness will know,
under this Government, eligibility for free school meals has been
extended several times, and to more groups of children than under
any other Government over the past 50 years. This has included
the introduction of universal infant free school meals and
further education free school meals, as well as the permanent
extension of eligibility to children from all families with no
recourse to public funds—for example, people with temporary
immigration status—which came into effect in April 2022.
We are doing much more to assist households, but she rightly
asked where this money is going. It is going directly to those
households that need it. Farmers and producers, who are at that
end of the supply chain, are being assisted, supported and
incentivised in a number of ways. She will have seen measures
brought in in the Budget to help farmers through fiscal changes.
We are securing and ring-fencing the £2.4 billion a year that we
spend supporting farmers, but encouraging them to move towards a
system of sustainable farming so that they are protecting our
natural capital. This secures the food supply in the long term;
it is not just dealing with a temporary problem that has emanated
from the alarming effect of the war in Ukraine. Of course, we
need to take further long-term measures to make sure that we are
incentivising farmers to continue to produce food close to those
who eat it.
(Con)
My Lords, I thank the Government for their generous support, but
what further measures beyond the Genetic Technology (Precision
Breeding) Bill are they planning to help science enable farmers
to produce more in this country while at the same time improving
the environment?
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for that question. Technology is our
friend in tackling the needs of future generations. As part of
seeing how the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill would
work, I went to a laboratory in Oxford and spoke to real experts
in this field. I came away extremely optimistic that, through the
changes we are bringing in through such Bills, but also the
incredible work happening across institutions in the United
Kingdom and abroad, our ability to feed ourselves in future is
perfectly feasible. It needs will from government, investment and
continued support for the scientific community, which is driving
this change. Also, that scientific evidence needs to feed through
to the farmers, producers and processors so that they can
continue to produce food affordably and in a sustainable way. I
can absolutely assure my noble friend that science is at the
heart of government policy on this.
(Lab)
My Lords, it is good to hear the Minister talking so positively
about school meals, so why are the Government still rejecting the
calls from Henry Dimbleby and public health leaders to extend
free school meals to all children in families on universal
credit? When food prices are going up so much, we will have more
hungry children than we have already.
(Con)
As the noble Baroness will know, we have extended free school
meals to the largest group of children for decades, and we will
continue to look at any other measures we can take. I draw her
attention to the work that the Department of Health and Social
Care has done for infants. It has increased Healthy Start food
vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, which is a significant increase,
helping low-income families to buy basic food such as milk, fruit
and vitamins, ensuring that families are not choosing between
costs and healthy choices. There are many other areas where the
Government can assist, such as advice on diet and nutrition that
enables families to make the right choices for them.
(GP)
My Lords, the Statement expresses great faith in the food supply
chain, which I can see only as an expression of extreme
complacency. It also reflects that domestic suppliers—that is,
supermarkets—have kept prices low. Has that not been the source
of recent supply problems? The Government have been suggesting
that we should be eating more turnips. Of course, the majority of
turnips that we consume are produced outside the UK. Does the
Minister agree that we cannot keep relying on the soil, water and
labour of others to feed ourselves, particularly for the fruit
and vegetables which we need far more of?
(Con)
Our food supply chain was tested as never before through the
pandemic. The noble Baroness looks at me as if to say that that
is not the case—it is the case. It was tested as never before and
found to be secure. With one or two short-term exceptions, it
kept us in this country able to have the food that we needed
available to us. On costs of lines in supermarkets, Defra works
with retailers on a weekly basis to see what direction they are
taking to tackle the crisis in household incomes and to make sure
that lower-priced products are available, and that those lines
are continuing. We do not have a command and control economy that
directs our retailers in what they can produce, but they have
risen to the challenge, providing a great many lower-priced lines
which will continue to be available for families such as this. I
hope that will continue.
