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Farm Animal Welfare

Yes, I am in general agreement with the hon. Gentleman on that. However, price is not the only consideration. I have always believed that we have to take into account the consequences of our actions. As all those hon. Members who have taken an interest in factory farming know, it involves some disgusting practices that many farmers deeply regret; in fact, many farmers feel forced into pursuing such practices by the continuous drive to the bottom that occurs if price is the only factor. The hon. Gentleman is right: there is no point making the reforms here if imports produced in countries that do not observe the same standards are dragged in. We have to bear that in mind. Procurement standards across the public sector vary widely. Some public sector organisations have made tremendous progress in buying healthier food from sustainable sources. Lancashire county council, for example, must be credited for its decision to go cage-free. The council uses more than 500,000 a year and has changed its supply to free-range eggs for its schools and care homes, which will liberate more than 2,000 hens from battery cages every year. So far, about 40 local authorities, out of a total of 468, have followed Lancashire's example and committed to going cage-free. Were others to follow suit, it would surely have a powerful impact on the welfare of hens and would help lower costs and prices and would, therefore, encourage the private sector to do likewise. I am pleased to report that numerous schools, hospitals and universities are also switching. Other taxpayer-funded organisations are going cage-free, including the BBC, the British Library, Transport for London and the House of Commons. However, caged eggs continue to be served across the public sector, in schools, hospitals and care homes. There is a postcode lottery in public sector food procurement. The missing ingredient required to address that is compulsion. I fear that further voluntary initiatives, such as the healthier food mark, will simply use more public funds on ineffective interventions that will achieve neither better quality food, nor healthier consumers. The public are ready for change. There has been a huge increase in consumer awareness of the appalling animal welfare standards involved in caged egg production and a significant increase in sales of eggs that meet higher welfare standards. Nearly half of all eggs sold in UK supermarkets now come from higher welfare systems. So we have made considerable progress.