Departmental Food

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will take steps to ensure that the meat and dairy products procured by his Department and its non-departmental bodies are free range or produced to standards equivalent to those of the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme. (323066)

The Department's catering contract was developed to incorporate the principles of the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative and the Department's contractor, Autograph, have a policy of supporting Fairtrade, Marine Stewardship, RSPCA Freedom Food and Red Tractor in addition to sourcing food locally wherever possible and where traceability allows.

As a company, Autograph procure meat, fruit and vegetables nationally at just over 50 per cent. of the total available domestically allocated spend and all dairy produce is of domestic provenance.

Autograph are committed to supporting and promoting the use of British agriculture, when in season and quality/value permit. They have recently been awarded Red Tractor Assured Food Standards accreditation for the four DCSF head office sites.

I am unable to provide detail for each of the non-departmental public bodies.