<p>Hospital Food Standards</p>

Part of 3. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 21 June 2017.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:04, 21 June 2017

I thank you for the question. On the food waste point, we’ve actually changed our target from getting down to 10 per cent in waste down to getting to below 5 per cent as well, so there is a point about waste within the hospital sector, and about making sure that we have a continuing journey of improvement. On the specific point you mention about how we procure for the national health service, we’re actually undertaking an exercise already with the national procurement service, and they’re working with the whole Welsh public sector. And I’m happy to say that, as part of what we’ve asked for, we’ve actually asked for Welsh protected geographical indication status to be contained within the specification, so we’re actually asking for produce from Wales to be part of what we wish to procure. And it’s also about trying to understand how we make it easier for small and medium suppliers to actually be part of providing that produce as well. There’s a consultation that’s been undertaken, with people in the food business, to understand how we make it easier for them, and at the same time, get good value for the public. Because there are the twin points here: about the economic value from the procurement service, but also not compromising on the nutritional value of what we want to provide in our settings. But I’m happy to say that tenders for the current framework across the public sector are due in this week, and then there’s a scheduled award against that framework in this summer as well. So, you should, I hope, see a greater number of Welsh producers taking advantage of the opportunities available—good value in economic terms to Wales, but also good value in terms of nutritional standards as well.