Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:30 pm on 22 February 2005.
My Lords, my noble friend is correct to say that public procurement is a significant part of the market. One disturbing matter that we discovered in our analysis of the market was that the level of UK procurement in the public sector was lower than that which is obtained in the average supermarket. Therefore, we have taken steps, through the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative, to ensure that departments ranging from prisons to the education service focus more on local and sustainable food. The effects of that are beginning to be seen through the system.