Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to encourage more milk processors to comply with the voluntary code on milk contracts.

George Eustice

The dairy industry code of best practice on contractual arrangements was created in Great Britain in 2012 in response to concern about fluctuating milk prices. About 85% of producers have signed up to it. There is general acceptance that the code’s introduction has led to some improvement for milk producers.

Ultimately, the code is voluntary and owned by the industry. However, this is something that I regularly discuss with the NFU and Dairy UK with a view to encouraging other, primarily smaller processors to sign up.