This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament

Petition Provide additional funding for redistributing surplus food

In April the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee called on the Government to provide ongoing funding to redistribute surplus food from the farmgate and across the supply chain to food aid providers. In June the Government said there were no plans for further grants. This should change.

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A Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair told the Committee “that the Government takes food waste very seriously” and that she expects “this to be an area in which we continue to work as Government”. We need the Government to provide public funding to enable the many agencies to carry out the work necessary to prevent food waste and improve food security.

This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months

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Food waste and food redistribution debated by MPs

On Tuesday 16 April MPs debated food waste and food redistribution. The debate was led by Jo Gideon MP.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Robbie Moore MP, responded on behalf of the Government, outlining how the Government are supporting prevention initiatives and taking action to get surplus food into the redistribution system.

The debate was scheduled by the Backbench Business Committee.

What are backbench business debates?

Backbench business debates give backbenchers (MPs who aren’t ministers or shadow ministers) an opportunity to secure a debate on a topic of their choice, either in the Chamber or Westminster Hall.

MPs can make a request for a debate to the Backbench Business Committee, which decides which debates to schedule.

Backbench debates can either be general debates (which do not end in a vote) or be on a substantive motion (which calls for an action and can end in a vote). This debate was a general debate.

Visual explainer: Backbench Business debates

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