The Government is committed to reducing and preventing food waste. To that end a holistic programme of action is in place to reduce and prevent food waste from the home and from business and includes helping to redistribute more surplus food from the food chain. The total amount of surplus food redistributed in the UK in 2018 was nearly 56,000 tonnes, almost doubling (a 96% increase) between 2015 and 2018. Since, 2018, the Department either directly or through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) awarded grants totalling over £11m to the redistribution sector. This includes nearly £4 million for not-for-profit organisations to carry out key redistribution activities such as storage and repackaging and redistributing to charities and / or end beneficiaries through the Covid-19 emergency food surplus food redistribution programme. The final grant award to the sector was made as recently as February 2021 for nearly £800k for a warehouse in London. Here, the Felix Project aims to double the organisation’s food surplus redistribution figures to 5,000 tonnes per year by 2023. Second Special Report of Session 2021–22 9 This award, and hundreds of other grants, are now providing the infrastructure such as vehicles, freezers and fridges to redistributors both large and small across the country to make sure more surplus food goes to those who have a need in the months and years to come. We are monitoring the return on this investment and are now beginning to see the results with a significant increase in surplus food redistributed predicted in the next set of survey results for 2020 due in May. There are no plans at the present time to tender further grant opportunities (and no funds allocated in the 21/22 financial year to do so) but we continue to work with the sector and the supply chain to break down the barriers to redistribution. This includes developing new resources, such as updating labelling guidance, to make it easier for businesses and redistributors alike to form partnerships and to redistribute more. The redistribution sector wants to see a greater focus on businesses making food surplus available. To that end we are working closely with partners such as WRAP and the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) and across the supply chain to highlight the opportunities for business to redistribute their surplus. This includes our support, through WRAP, of the Target Measure and Act (TMA) approach to waste prevention. Part of a Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, through tools and guidance businesses are encouraged and helped to understand, measure and then act on their food waste including by getting more food to the redistribution sector. To date, 276 businesses have committed to TMA. Food Supply Chain Conclusions and Recommendations 11: We support the Chancellor’s announcement in the Budget that the hospitality sector will continue to receive at least the same level of financial support. However, we remain concerned that those who supply them have not received the same level of financial support. Many of these suppliers are small businesses, who will be particularly vulnerable as the economy starts to re-open. Both hospitality providers, and many public sector organisations, are reliant on them. The Government’s support to hospitality businesses will be wasted if their supply chain collapses. We therefore recommend that the Government urgently assesses the impact of the closures to the hospitality sector on its suppliers, especially small businesses, and provides additional financial support to them during the period of reopening. (Paragraph 50) Response: The closure of the hospitality sector has had a major impact on suppliers within the food supply chain. The Government has welcomed continued engagement and close collaboration with industry, and this has helped us to understand the implications. The Government will continue to use proven mechanisms to engage with industry and monitor risks and impacts as they develop. We acknowledge that small businesses face particular challenges. We conduct regular one-to-one discussions with food and drink Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to understand the issues affecting them. We also hold a monthly SME forum where attendees can raise concerns about issues affecting their business and where we can direct them to relevant Government guidance and support measures. This engagement allows us to monitor and seek to resolve the issues affecting SMEs, and helps to ensure their concerns are properly considered in development of Government policy. 10 Second Special Report of Session 2021–22 The Government has set out a package of temporary, timely and targeted measures to support public services, people and businesses through this period of disruption caused by Covid-19. This applies across the economy, and those supplying food into the hospitality sector are eligible for many of the schemes. There are, and have been, numerous support options available for supp