Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of levels of food insecurity in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

The UK currently has a high degree of food security as shown by the UK Food Security Assessment (published in 2010 and reviewed in 2012) which analysed the different global factors affecting UK food supply.

Global food security is dependent on a number of factors including increasing production sustainably, reducing waste and ensuring open markets around the world to facilitate trade.

Following a period of higher food price inflation retail food prices have fallen by 7.0% since their peak in February 2014. The proportion of household income spent on food has remained stable at 11% for 2015/16 compared to 2008/09.