To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on delivering the recommendations in the Independent Review of NHS hospital food published in October 2020.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the quality of food in hospitals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the quality of food in hospitals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what metrics he plans to use to measure improvements in food standards in hospitals; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of current food standards in hospitals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what metrics he plans to use to measure the effectiveness of improvements to training for hospital chefs; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of current training for those chefs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what metrics he plans to use to measure the effectiveness of improvements to food for hospital staff; and what assessment he has made of the quality of current food offering for hospital staff.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what metrics he plans to use to measure the effectiveness of improvements in the availability of fresh food; and what assessment he has made of current levels of 24 hour availability of fresh food in hospitals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what metrics he plans to use to measure the effectiveness of improvements in ward kitchens in hospitals; and what assessment he has made of the quality of ward kitchens in hospitals.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on ensuring that every NHS trust has a named board member with responsibility for hospital food.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on ensuring that every NHS trust has a chief dietitian with responsibility for overseeing hospital food.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what metrics he uses to measure patient satisfaction with hospital food; and what assessment he has made of current levels of satisfaction with hospital food.

We know the importance of quality, nutritious hospital food to aid a patient’s recovery. The Independent Review of Hospital Food, published in October 2020, included an assessment of hospital food. This is why a three-year plan named ‘Great Food, Good Health’, led by NHS England, is underway to implement the recommendations from the Review with the aim to improve hospital food, as well as picking up on the existing food agenda in the NHS Long Term Plan and the Greener NHS Plan. NHS England has established an Expert Advisory Group, made up of clinicians, dietitians, and caterers to take forward the implementation of recommendations from the Independent Review of Hospital Food. In addition, NHS England now have a National Dietitian and a National Development Chef to support this work.

As part of this work, NHS England published updated NHS Food Standards on the 3 November 2022 and they are considering the best way to measure the effectiveness of improvements as a result of those standards.