---

Farm Animal Welfare

I did not mean to speed over points deliberately, or not to pay them appropriate attention. Like other colleagues, I anticipated there being more speakers in this debate. I therefore edited my comments to ensure that others had as much time as possible. On the progress that is being made under the present infrastructure, several Members pointed out that the use of consumer power reinforces their argument that there has been movement when it comes to the ethos of eating and procurement. The best example is McDonald's. My hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, South, referred to that company's sensitivity and its position in the market. The fact that McDonald's has moved demonstrates that it recognises public opinion. It is getting ahead of the game, so that it can try to maintain, if not increase, its market share. In the marketplace, blue-chip corporations involved in food supply are moving forward, and I shall give at least one more example of progress in the public sector, too. That shows that we are talking about a moveable feast, If you will excuse the pun, Mr. Sheridan, and it is moving in the right direction—the direction that my hon. Friend wants us to take. The second animal welfare criterion being considered as a potential entry on the healthier food mark list is the aim of having""100 per cent. of eggs…sourced from systems which do not use conventional cages."" Owing to stakeholders' concerns about the number of criteria, that is only listed as a potential criterion; we consider that the impending ban on the use of conventional cages will drive the outcome. In February 2008, we issued a notice to all public sector contracting authorities to alert them to the ban on conventional cages from January 2012. The purpose of the alert was to enable buyers to reflect the new regulations in forthcoming contracts, and that, in part, answers the question of the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire about lead-in times and the ability of producers and purchasers to make adjustments in respect of the new regulations. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is working with the Office of Government Commerce on the collaborative food procurement programme, which aims to use collaboration between public sector buyers to generate better value and higher quality, and to embed sustainability and animal welfare in procurement decisions right across the public sector. In the summer, I wrote to Ministers in every Department to ensure that they were aware of how much importance the Government attach to the higher welfare standards. I accept the points made by the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire about averages, and I would not quibble with him. However, we do not want to camouflage the progress that has been made; in some areas, it is better than in others. None the less, we are trying to address the issues and to make even better progress. I have begun meeting other Ministers, starting with those in charge of the biggest food-buying Departments, to discuss procurement issues. We will look at those who are doing well to identify how they have been able to make such progress. We will also look at those who are not doing so well and listen to them to find out what obstacles they may be encountering. We will share best practice across the Departments, and that will then feed down to the wider public sector. For example, I will examine the purchasing of the Department of Health and then move on to the NHS. Likewise, I will examine the purchasing of the Department for Communities and Local Government and then move on to local government, and so on, to try to ensure that we can make additional progress. I was interested to hear the point that the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire made about his cook in Ely. One issue that has come up recently in our meetings with the Food Standards Agency and the Council of Food Policy Advisers is the fact that, because of devolved budgets, there are now some 35,000 purchasing points within the public sector. It is possible that the skill level of some of those procurement officials is not appropriate. For example, they may be great at purchasing stationery, because that is their background, but they are now having to purchase food for the Department. We must consider the skills set of the people in those purchasing areas. The cook obviously knows exactly what she is purchasing and is making positive choices, getting better value for money and producing healthier meals. However, she probably does not represent the majority; she may be a very good representative sample, but we must ensure that everyone in the public sector has the appropriate skills to make the appropriate choices.