2 Rejected

UK Food Security Report is vital but outdated; Government refuses annual publication.

Conclusion
The UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) is a vital document to provide transparency about whether the UK will achieve each of the five elements of food security the Government is required to report on, and the associated risks to them. The analysis within the UKFSR should be central to steering Defra and wider Government strategy and policy-making on food security, and therefore should be as up-to-date as possible. Under the provisions of the Agriculture Act 2020, the next edition need not be published until December 2024, but we believe the current edition published in December 2021 is already out-of-date. We are therefore disappointed that the Secretary of State refused to consider publishing an annual UKFSR.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation to publish an annual UK Food Security Report (UKFSR), stating that the Agriculture Act 2020 only requires it every three years, many measures are already published annually elsewhere, and the next report will be published next year.
Paragraph Reference
10
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government Rejected
The Agriculture Act 2020 requires that the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) is produced at least every three years. Many of the measures within the UKFSR are already published on an annual basis, via publications such as Agriculture in the UK, Family Food, the Food Statistics Pocketbook, the Family Resources Survey, and the Households Below Average Income publication. We do not have plans to make the UKFSR an annual publication. The next report will be published next year. We already report regularly on actions we are taking to support food security. The Government Food Strategy set out a range of policy initiatives to secure food supply and boost the health, sustainability, accessibility of diets. At the Farm to Fork Summit in May, the Prime Minister set out the next steps in growing a thriving UK food system. More recently, on Back British Farming Day on 13 September, we announced a package of measures designed to cut red tape, support our farmers to invest in new technologies and build energy resilience, and boost our vitally important abattoir network. Food security and sustainability is at the heart of what we do, and we provide regular updates on our policies and progress.
Timeline
Recommendation age 2.8 yrs
Report published 28 Jul 2023