To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government have taken to encourage the supply of fair trade products to the UK market. (191471)

The UK Government are a strong supporter of the growing fair and ethical trade sector. The Department for International Development has provided almost £12 million to promote fair and ethical trade initiatives since 1997. We recently announced a new £1.2 million grant to the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation to scale up Fairtrade labelling, particularly in the poorest countries.

We are also keen to encourage the private sector to do more to proactively source goods from developing countries. To support this DFID has launched a £2 million Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH). This will support innovative business models that will help bring millions of farmers into profitable fair trading relationships with UK shoppers.