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Ministers may use food sales loophole to help farmers
GOVERNMENT departments, schools and the NHS could significantly increase the amount of British food they buy under plans being drawn up in Whitehall.
While forcing the public sector to buy only British produce would be illegal, officials think they have found an alternative way to help domestic farmers without breaking free trade rules.
It could see a standard clause put into tendering documents so public sector bodies only buy meat which meets tough UK animal welfare standards, which are higher than those in many other European countries.
Foreign producers who can beat British farmers on price would therefore be unable to bid for contracts if they fail to match UK standards. The move has the potential to offer domestic farmers a huge boost at a time when Yorkshire's pig industry in particular is struggling.
Giving British farmers a helping hand would also help the Government save face after being embarrassed in the past over the amount of foreign food it imports.
With food security rising up the political agenda, Whitehall departments were left red-faced last year when figures for 2006/07 revealed that only 60 per cent of beef eaten across government is British, three-fifths of all mutton and lamb in Whitehall is imported and some departments failed to bring home any British bacon at all: the Ministry of Defence, Foreign Office and the Prison Service.
This is despite Gordon Brown's boast last week that "we all know British bacon is best".
New Farming Minister Jane Kennedy has admitted that Government needs to lead by example, although she insists progress is being made.
Duncan Prior, a policy adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told MPs the Government was getting better at buying food raised to high welfare standards, adding: "We cannot... employ a 'Buy British' campaign because that would be illegal under EU single market rules.
"However, what we are trying to do is take forward an initiative whereby, for example, we could have model contract clauses for the public sector that stipulate not 'Buy British' but 'Buy to UK welfare standards', and if those standards could be met by suppliers outside the UK, so be it."
British farmers, particularly in the pig industry, claim they are often unable to compete with foreign competitors because their production costs are higher due to tougher welfare standards they have to meet.
Yet even though the Government imposes tougher standards, farmers have often been left to struggle by the public sector which buys cheaper foreign meat raised to lower standards.
Ms Kennedy said: "I absolutely agree that Government has to lead the way and show by example what can be done. There is a lot of progress being made in this."
She singled out the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice for praise, while the Cabinet Office is to review its bacon procurement.
"We are getting there," she added.
Brigg and Goole MP Ian Cawsey raised the issue of buying British with Mr Brown in the Commons last week, complaining about the Government purchasing figures, and welcomed the latest moves.
He said: "Those figures could be dramatically turned around and quite quickly."
The Government is expected to publish a report by the end of the month detailing what pork and bacon Government departments buy.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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