The public sector is a significant buyer of food and catering services. This market offers an opportunity for Government to open up the market to allow more small businesses to compete for government contracts, ensuring that our schoolchildren, hospital patients and soldiers are fed healthy, nutritious food that is produced to high standards, in an affordable way.

Today I will launch “A Plan for Public Procurement of Food and Catering Services”, and place a copy in the Libraries of the House. This work was led by Dr Peter Bonfield OBE; it aims to make excellent procurement the norm across the country. The Plan complements other Government initiatives, including the Government’s Procurement Pledge, the School Food Plan, the work of the Hospital Food Standards Panel, and the GREAT initiative. The Plan strengthens the Government Buying Standard for Food and Catering and offers public procurers a toolkit to help them deliver a good service, through a clearer and more consistent approach to buying food or catering services.

By using a simplified and more consistent approach, Government procurement can open up the public sector market to small and local businesses, which means more competition and good value for the taxpayer. It will allow more locally-sourced food to be served in our public sector organisations, which means more money into the local economy. It is also good for the environment, as the approach supports UK farm production standards and measures to reduce food waste. It will encourage healthier eating, foster a great connection with food, and celebrate local food.

However, don't get too excited as this doesn't come into effect until 2017!

The Prime Minister announced that from 2017, all of central government will commit to buying fresh, locally sourced, seasonal food, so that all food that can be bought locally will be bought locally. This will be done through a new, simplified food and drink buying standard, ‘The Plan for Public Procurement’, which will be launched today to benefit thousands of British farmers, small businesses, rural economies and the British public.