Food

Mr. Peter Ainsworth
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much food waste his Department generated in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Thomas
My Department’s food waste is 3 per cent. of turnover and has been budgeted at this level for the last five years. We monitor this by good ordering practices and portioning control when cooking and serving up.

Our caterers, Baxter Storey, constantly look at ways of reducing our waste. On 14 April 2008, we introduced a new waste system at our headquarters building, 1 Victoria street, which has been trialled and which involves all food waste being collected in bins, to be picked up weekly, and taken for composting.